Business card and contact management system

ABSTRACT

An Internet (or World-Wide-Web or other such public or private network) based business card and contact management system capable of conveying and managing advertising as well as traditional and other non-traditional business contact information. The invention is a system that: (1) accepts a Universal Contact Locator (UCL) as encoded on a business card in man and/or machine readable format and, when the Universal Contact Locator (UCL) is entered into a client program running on a client computer, (2) causes a web browser (or like program) and associated communications software to establish a communications session with a remote server computer which (3) accesses the stored contact and advertisement and news information of the card issuer associated with the Universal Contact Locator and (4) downloads the business contact and/or personal contact information and targeted advertisements and news items associated with the Universal Contact Locator to a client program running on a client computer which (5) loads the contact data into the Contact Management or Personal Information Management (PIM) system of the users choosing running on the users client computer and (6) stores the advertisements and news items downloaded from the server computer on the client computer&#39;s secondary storage device (i.e. hard disk) and (7) causes the advertisements and news items stored on the client computer&#39;s secondary storage device to be displayed to the user on a predetermined schedule in a portion of the client computer&#39;s output device (i.e. CRT or LCD panel).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Management of business and personal contact information is a vital partof every business-person's job. It is a long-standing tradition,world-wide, for business people (and personal acquaintances) to exchangebusiness cards upon their first (and possibly subsequent) meeting. Therecurrently exists a significant market for manufacturers of manualbusiness card holders/files and for developers and retailers of softwareand electronic hardware products to manage personal and business contactinformation. The electronic systems are commonly referred to as PIM's(Personal Information Managers) or CMS systems (Contact/CustomerManagement Systems). The PIM and CMS systems vary in their functionalityfrom small, credit-card sized electronic address books to largecorporate-wide customer management systems.

All of the systems have one common flaw, however, in that the task ofentering the original contact information is time consuming and errorprone. The task of entering all the basic contact information from thebusiness card into the PIM/CMS such as, for example, the card holder'sname, address, phone and fax numbers, email address, etc. is by nature alabor intensive task. Because the task is manual, it is prone to dataentry errors. Often times the errors are not realized until the userlater extracts the data from the PIM/CMS and attempts to contact thecard issuer and fails because, for example, a phone or fax number iswrong or a zip code has two digits transposed. Entry of contact datainto a PIM/CMS is expensive because of the labor involved. The expenseis compounded when errors are realized after the fact when mail isreturned, faxes are not received in a timely manner or phone contactcannot be made. There exists therefore, a need for a system to reduce oreliminate the labor and errors associated with the manual data entry ofcontact information into a PIM/CMS.

Commercially available solutions to automate the data entry process ofentering business contact information are limited. Today, the state ofthe art consists of optical card scanning devices. These devices such asthe Smart Business Card Reader from Seiko and the CardScan Plus fromCorex Technologies consist of an optical document scanner and OCR(Optical Character Recognition) software. The optical scanner scans theimage(s) printed on the front of the business card and the OCR softwareattempts to determine which characters make up which fields ofinformation. The software then attempts to place the data into thedatabase of an attached PIM/CMS. This technology is expensive and errorprone. Though less labor intensive than manual data entry it is oftenmore error prone than hand data entry.

Another limitation exists for the business card issuer. A printedbusiness card can convey only a limited amount of information.Face-to-face delivery of information is often the most effectiveadvertising medium. The ability to hand-deliver an advertising messageto a business or personal acquaintance is highly effective and adesirable marketing goal. Even with the state of the art in electronicand print advertising, there still exists a significant need for peopleto meet in person. The business card issuer is faced with the dilemma ofwanting to print (convey) as much information as possible on a businesscard without the card becoming cluttered and confusing to the recipient.A partial answer to this dilemma is to print information on both thefront and back of the business card (which presents a problem foroptical card scanners) or to produce a card that folds in the middle,much like a book, thus providing multiple surfaces on which to printinformation. These solutions are expensive for the card issuer asprinting costs can increase significantly and often annoying to therecipient. There exists, therefore, a need for a system that will allowa business card issuer to convey larger amounts of contact relatedinformation (than conventional business cards) to the recipient in amanner that is aesthetically pleasing (i.e. a business card that is notcrowded with information), inexpensive to print and convenient for therecipient to manage.

In a business meeting, it is common for the participants to exchangeadvertising/marketing information. This advertising often takes the formof product brochures, service capability statements, product-line cards,videos, demonstration units, etc., in addition to the exchange ofbusiness cards. This process is expensive for the issuer (i.e. for thecost of the production, storage, and maintenance of marketing materials)and for the recipient who has to store the received literature, etc. insuch a way as to make it readily accessible the next time it is needed.The recipient often files the business card in a manual card file orelectronic PIM and the literature in a separate file which must belabeled and filed. This, again, is a manually intensive and expensiveprocess for the recipient that often results in theliterature/advertising information being disposed of or lost.Accordingly, there exists a need for a system that will allow the issuerof a business card to also actively convey targetedadvertising/marketing information to a recipient in a manner that iscost effective and convenient for both the issuer and the receiver.

The Internet is fundamentally changing the way companies do business.One advantage of the Internet, especially for smaller companies, is thatan advertiser can reach a potentially large audience simply byestablishing a site on the World Wide Web. Unlike print advertising,electronic forms of advertising can be interactive and can often delivermore information to the viewer. A limitation and fundamental difficulty,however, is in attracting visitors to one's web site. Web advertising isa purely passive advertising method in which the customer must come tothe advertiser, not visa versa. Search engines and cooperative web siteadvertising are common methods to attract visitors to an advertiser'sweb site. A common method for Internet advertisers is the “shotgun”approach whereby the advertiser pays for advertising space and time onthe Web sites of many different business partners or “cooperative” websites. The theory is that sooner or later, an interested prospect willeventually come across the advertiser's ad and take action to purchasethe advertiser's product or service. A disadvantage to cooperative website advertising is that it does not lend itself well to “targeted”advertising. It is also an expensive advertising method, especially forsmaller companies who cannot afford to purchase ad space on high trafficweb sites. Even if an advertiser can afford the ad space on a popularweb site, advertisements are typically “rotated” through a site suchthat they are displayed on a periodic basis along with numerous otherads. As a result, it is highly likely that the advertiser's ad will notbe displayed to each and every visitor to that web site. Often a moreeffective method of targeted electronic advertising which allows theadvertiser to reach targeted prospective customers is for the advertiserto actively pursue their target audience by direct E-mail advertising.Direct E-mail advertising is a more active method which allows theadvertiser to bring the message directly to the targeted recipient andis often less expensive than cooperative web site advertising. Adisadvantage with direct E-mail is that many email service providersactively filter out “spam” or unsolicited email. Accordingly, there is aneed for a method of electronic advertising and electronic advertisementdelivery which allows for inexpensive delivery of electronicadvertisements to a specifically targeted audience.

It is often difficult (or impossible) for advertisers to determine whois actually receiving and/or viewing their advertisements. Advertiserswant to know the demographics of the viewers/recipients of theiradvertising. Statistics about the viewer/recipient of an ad such aswhen, where, and for how long they viewed the ad and the source of thead (i.e. a retailer, staff sales person, business partner, or other suchsource) are desirable for advertisers. Information such as the viewer'sjob title, and company and how the viewer can be reached are alsodesirable pieces of information that are extremely difficult if notimpossible for an advertiser to obtain without expensive surveys, etc.There exists, therefore, a need for a system that will allow advertisersto obtain detailed information about the viewer/recipient of advertisingas well as the source and timing of the advertisement.

It is common for business partners to share in the costs of advertising.“Cooperative advertising”, as it is sometimes referred, often involvesmultiple advertiser teaming together. Often the “team” consists of aglobal or national advertiser and a local re-seller of a product orservice. Often, a re-seller of a product or service will print the logoand company name of one or more cooperative advertisers on his/herbusiness card perhaps in an effort to increase name recognition, etc.This often results in a potentially confusing or crowded lookingbusiness card. Accordingly, there is a need for a business card formatthat allows cooperative advertisers to place logos, etc. from one ormore business partners (advertisers) on (or within) one business cardwithout causing the business card to look crowded or to cause confusionwith the recipient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides business card issuers and receivers witha more efficient, more cost effective, more accurate, and less manuallyintensive method for conveying and managing business and personalcontact information as well as news and advertising information.

The present invention provides a method to substantially reduce if noteliminate the labor and errors associated with manual data entry ofcontact information into a PIM/CMS. The present invention provides amethod to deliver large amounts of contact related information. Thepresent invention provides a method of actively delivering targetedadvertising information to a recipient. The present invention provides amethod to deliver a electronic advertisements and news informationdirectly to a targeted recipients. The present invention provides amethod of collecting detailed information about the recipient/viewer ofadvertising as well as the source and timing of the advertisement. Thepresent invention provides a method of combining the logos and otheradvertisements of multiple businesses into a single business card.

In the present invention, a card holder (issuer) of business cardssubscribes to a server system, thus becoming a subscriber, and providesall of his/her contact information to the server system.

The type of information that the subscriber will provide to the serversystem and which the present invention will store, communicate, andmanage includes that information which is commonly printed ontraditional business cards, such as; name, title, company name, phonenumber, address, fax number, email address, web address, etc. (asillustrated in FIG. 2-D). In addition to traditional business cardinformation, the present invention will store and manage heretoforenon-traditional business contact information such as mission statements,quality statements, capability statements, product descriptions,alternate contact information (such as home phone, cell phone, directphone number, alternate office locations, etc.), assistant information(i.e. assistant's name, phone, email address, etc.), professionalaffiliations (such as for example, MD, JD, DDS, CPA, etc.), personalaffiliations (such as charities, alma mater, military, religion, etc.),personal interests (such as golf, fishing, skiing, etc.) and virtuallyany other information that might be of interest for a business cardholder to convey to a recipient. Additionally, the present inventionwill allow the subscriber to convey new types of information thatheretofore have not been possible with traditional business cards andcontact management systems. Data types such as audio, video, digitalimages, etc. will allow the subscriber to convey company news items andadvertisements, product brochures, complete product and servicedescriptions, as well as business partner news and advertisementsdirectly to the user's computer. Direct conveyance of targeted news andadvertising (both company and business partner) is a key capability ofthe present invention.

It will be appreciated that more or less contact information may beprovided by the subscriber and that FIG. 2-D is only a representativeexample of the contact information that may be provided with the presentinvention. In addition to contact information, news and advertisementsrelating to the subscriber and/or the subscriber's company as well asnews and advertisements relating to the subscriber's business partners(i.e. dealers, service providers, suppliers, etc.), are conveyed fromthe subscriber to the server system. The subscriber also conveys to theserver system advertisement control profiles and associates them witheach ad submitted. The news and advertisement control profiles describehow and when the ad (or news item) is displayed and includes, but is notlimited to the size and shape of the ad, the effective start and stopdates the ad is to run, etc.

The file on the server system in which the card issuer's contact andadvertising information is stored is represented by a unique alphanumeric identifier referred to herein as a Universal Contact Locator or“UCL”. In the representative embodiment of the present invention,business cards belonging to the subscriber are encoded with thesubscriber's UCL. The UCL may be printed on the subscriber's businesscard in human readable format and/or one or more machine readableformat(s) such as, for example, bar code, magnetic stripe, etc. The UCLencoded on the subscriber's business card corresponds to the UCL whichidentifies the unique data file on the server system which contains thebusiness contact information and advertisements of the subscriber.

The present invention is also applicable to a variety of personalidentification/social communication media such as greeting cards,stationary, electronic mail, etc. Likewise, a UCL encoded/printed on thepersonal /social communication media of the “sender” corresponds to aunique data file located in the server system which contains thepersonal/social contact information and/or advertising of the sender.For purposes of clarity, only the application of the present inventionto business contact and advertising information conveyance andmanagement is described herein, but it will be appreciated that thesystem will function substantially the same for personal/socialcommunication media. FIG. 2-D illustrates representative “personaladdress book” information that may be managed by the present invention.

A user, i.e. a recipient of business cards, may or may not be (orbecome) a subscriber. A first-time user registers (on a one time basis)with the server system and provides certain contact information to theserver system such as, for example, his/her name, title, company name,address, phone number, email address, etc.

Once the user has registered with the server system the client programis down-loaded from the server system via the network or mailed to theuser and installed on the client computer. The client programincorporates an information database or similar file structure/filemanagement system for management of the client program(s), files, anddata.

Upon receipt of a business card or other social communication mediawhich is encoded with a UCL, the recipient enters the UCL into theclient program running on the client computer. It will be appreciatedthat the UCL may also be communicated to the user (recipient) verballyor by any other means. The client computer is equipped with a manualand/or automated data entry device(s) as described herein. When enteringthe UCL, it is not necessary that the client system be connected to orcommunicating with the server system. In practice, it may be common thatthe client system is not connected to or in communication with theserver system when the UCL is being entered. The client program storesthe entered UCL(s).

Once the UCL(s) is entered into the client program, the client programwill continue accepting and storing UCL(s) until such time as the usercauses the client computer to establish an electronic (either wire orwireless) connection with the Internet (or other such remote network asdescribed herein). The method(s) for establishing communication withanother computer via the Internet is well known in the art.

Once the client program has caused the user's client computer toestablish an electronic communication session with the server system,regardless of the process that caused the connection (i.e. manual orautomated), the client program then passes the stored UCL(s) to theserver system. The client program also passes information contained inother files such as the log file, the statistics file, the configurationfile, the web tracker file, and others, described in greater detailherein, to the server system. The server system accesses thesubscriber's file(s) (stored on the server system) that are associatedwith the UCL(s) that were just passed to the server system from theclient program. The server system passes the contact and advertisinginformation associated with the subscriber(s) UCL to the client programvia the remote network. The server system also passes update informationto the client program. Program updates (patches, bug fixes, newfeatures, etc.) are sent to the configuration file. New communicationsparameters such as modem configurations, access phone numbers, deviceURL'S, etc. are also down-loaded to the configuration file. Changes thatsubscribers have made to their subscriber account information (i.e.contact information, news and advertisement information, web trackerlists, etc.) are also downloaded to the client program. The informationdownloaded from the server system to the client computer is oftenreferred to herein as “inbound information”.

Once all the appropriate information (inbound information) has beendown-loaded from the server system to the client computer, the serversystem terminates the communication session with the client program. Theclient program will then cause the appropriate contact data to be storedin the appropriate locations within the designated CMS/PIM. The user canthen use the CMS/PIM as usual to create, edit, store, retrieve, output,and otherwise manipulate business and personal contact information. Theclient program will also store the news items and advertisementsdownloaded from the server system in the “news items” and“advertisement” files for later display by the “news and ads player”.The configuration, statistics, and ad control information are stored intheir respective files as well.

Advertisements:

The present invention provides for the delivery of advertising and newscontent to users and subscribers. For purposes of clarity, as usedherein, the term “advertising” or “advertisement”, or “ad” refers toboth advertising and news content or news item. Subscribers submitadvertisements to the server system for storage on the server system.Ads can be textural, graphical (still or animated), video, audio or acombination. News items and advertisements are generally divided intotwo categories; “CLIENT ADS” and “SERVER ADS”. Client ads are downloadedto the client computer (along with other inbound information) fordisplay on the client computer while the client computer is off-linewith respect to the server system. Server ads remain on the serversystem and are displayed to users when the client computer is on-linewith respect to the server system. Otherwise, client ads and server adsare essentially identical.

The appropriate ads (according to an ad display schedule) are downloaded to the client program for display to users. Banner ads and spotads are displayed continually at the periphery of the client screen(typically top and bottom of the screen for banner ads and on the rightor left side of the screen for spot ads). Focus ads are displayed as aresult of the user selecting (typically by “clicking” on) either abanner or spot ad. Focus ads are also automatically displayed during thetime the client program is establishing connection with the serversystem. Server ads are displayed while the client and server systems areupdating their .respective inbound and outbound files (i.e. contact andad information, log, statistic, ad control, web tracker files, etc.).Client focus ads or server ads may also be displayed during and afterthe time the client and server systems are terminating communications.Client focus ads or server ads continue to be displayed on the clientcomputer after termination of the communication session with the serveruntil the user closes the focus ad or server ad screen. During thecommunications sessions when the client and server systems communicateto perform other functions such as user registration/subscription,system configuration, account maintenance functions, etc. the serversystem displays server ads. Server ads can be provided by subscribersand/or third party advertisers. Server ads are associated with a serversystem ad control file and ad display program (essentially identical tothat of client ads).

Optional Services

Change of Address:

It is common for issuers of business cards to change one or more itemsof contact information such as, for example, phone number, title,address, etc. When contact information changes it is desirable for boththe issuer and prior recipients of the issuers business card be informedof the new contact information. Notifying prior recipients of changedcontact information can be a time consuming task for the card issuer. Itis especially difficult given the fact that most issuers of businesscards rarely keep track of every person to whom they have given theirbusiness card. And it is nearly impossible for an issuer to know ofrecipients of his/her business card who have received the card from asource other than the issuer (i.e. a business associate “passes on” thebusiness card of the issuer). Accordingly, the present inventionprovides for the “forwarding” of changed contact information.

When a subscriber's contact information or advertisements change, thepresent invention will automatically forward the updated information tousers who communicate with the server system in the future as well asthose who have previously down loaded the subscriber's information. Asubscriber submits his/her updated contact and/or advertisinginformation to the server system or, if the subscriber is also a user,then the client program automatically passes the changed information tothe server system the next time the client computer of the subscribinguser communicates with the server system. The server system maintains a“net change” image of the database of all of the contact information ofall of the subscribers who's subscriptions are current (i.e. active).Each time a subscriber makes changes to their contact or advertisinginformation stored on the server system the server system records thechanges.

The server system maintains a contact list, herein referred to as a “UCLSUMMARY FILE” for each user of the present invention. The UCL summaryfile maintains a record of every unique UCL for which the user hasdown-loaded contact and advertising information to their client program.The server system also maintains a “UUID SUMMARY FILE” for eachsubscriber which maintains a record of every UUID of every user who hasreceived the subscriber's contact and/or advertising information. TheUUID summary file helps the server system to identify those previousrecipients of a subscriber's information who should receive thesubscriber's updated information. The server system compares thecontents of the user's UCL summary file to the net-change image of thedatabase stored on the server system and flags (i.e. identifies) thoseUCL's in the user's UCL summary file representing those subscriber fileswhich contain changed or new contact data or advertisements since thelast time the user's client program communicated with the server system.Those contact files and corresponding advertisements that containchanged or new data are down loaded to the user's client computer duringthe current or subsequent communication session(s) between the clientcomputer and the server system, thereby providing automatic updating ofthe contact information and advertisements for the contacts stored onthe users client system.

Supplemental Contact Information:

It is desirable for a recipient of business cards to associateadditional information or “notes” with a particular business card. Forinstance, a user might want to make notes relative to a conversationhe/she had with the subscriber. Accordingly the present inventionprovides for the attachment of notes or supplemental information tocontact records. When the user is in the process of entering UCL's intothe client program the client program provides the user with an optionto enter supplemental information about the subscriber as illustrated inFIG. 11-B. The client program stores this supplemental information(typically in the form of notes) in a temporary file identified by theUCL. Once the client program has communicated with the server system andthe server system has down loaded the subscriber's contact informationto the client program, the client program will append the contactinformation with the supplemental information prior to storing thecontact information and supplemental information in the user's CMS/PIM.

Voice Activated Data Retrieval:

It is advantageous for a user to be capable of retrieving contactinformation even when they do not have access to their client computer.Accordingly, the present invention provides for retrieval of contactinformation via telephone. The server system is coupled to a voicesynthesis telephony system (as known in the art). The telephony systemconverts textual data into voice data for transmission via telephone.The user makes a telephone connection to the server system and entershis/her UCL and password via the telephone key pad, voice, or othermeans. The server system will then prompt the user to enter (via thetelephone key pad) or to speak the name of a subscriber, thesubscriber's company name, or other such distinguishing information asto allow the server system to locate the specific contact information inthe user's contact database. The server system will then execute one ofa multiplicity of commands such as, for example, convert the contactinformation to voice and “speak” the information back to theuser/subscriber or download the specified data to the user's specifiedclient computer, etc.

Web Tracker:

With a large personal contact database it is common for a user to searchother sources (the Internet, web, phone book, etc.) for products orservices which could be provided by someone the user already knows (i.e.a current contact). The user may simply forget (or did not know) thathe/she has a current contact who can provide the product or service forwhich they are currently searching. Accordingly, it is advantageous fora subscriber and for a user that a user be made aware that his/her owncontact database contains a contact(s) who provides a competitive orcomplementary product or service to that product or service representedby the web site or advertisement the user is currently viewing. Forexample, a plumber who is a subscriber would want to notify a user whois viewing a bathroom fixtures web site that he also provides bathroomfixtures as well as installation and design services. A home mortgagebroker would want to notify a user of his/her products and services whenthe user visits certain competitor's web sites or the web sites of realestate firms. Accordingly, the present invention provides for suchcapability.

The subscriber submits to the server system for storage on the serversystem, a file (web tracker file) containing the domain names or webaddresses for specific competitors or providers of complimentaryproducts or services. The user's web browser will pass a copy of the webdomain name currently being viewed to client program. The client programwill compare the domain name to entries in the web-tracker file. If amatch(s) is made the client program will 1. display the banner or spotad(s) contained in the client ad file(s) which correspond to the UCL'sof the contacts who provide the competitive/complementary service and 2.notify the user via a message displayed on the screen of the clientcomputer. The message displayed will, in some manner, inform the userthat a current contact exists (on the client computer) who provides acomplementary/competitive product or service. The client programprovides a means for the user to access additional information about thecontact. If the user requests additional information (i.e. by clickingon or otherwise selecting the banner or spot ad or displayed message),the client program will display the focus ad(s) of the contact(s) whoprovide the competitive/complementary service or product(s). Display ofa focus ad further provides additional means for contacting thesubscriber such as, for example, visiting the contact's web site, orcontacting the contact via telephone, email, etc.

Key Word Search:

Additionally, the client program provides a facility to search thecontact database of the client computer based on key words which areentered into the search field of a search engine on the web. Forexample, if a user is searching for “bathtubs” and enters the key word“bathtub” or “bathroom fixtures” into a search engine, the clientcomputer will conduct the same search against the contact database onthe client computer. If a match(s) is found the client program willnotify the user in the same manner as described above in the“WEB-TRACKER” section.

Contact-Based News Tracker Service:

It is common for business people to stay abreast of news-worthy eventsrelating to people and companies with whom they conduct business. Withknowledge of news worthy events relating to their business contacts,users/subscribers are thereby more effective business partners,negotiators, competitors, sales people, etc. when conducting businesswith their contacts. It is common, therefor, for business people(particularly sales people) to search the Web, newspapers, or other newssources for news articles about the people and companies with whom theyhave business relationships. Business people also often have a need tofollow news relating to a certain industry. Business people often don'thave the time, take the time, or remember to “surf the web for newsabout a contact, company, or industry. Accordingly, the presentinvention provides the capability to automatically schedule, collect anddeliver to the user's/subscriber's client computer news informationrelating to the user's/subscriber's contacts and/or particular companiesand/or industries. The user establishes a “news-tracker list” (i.e. alist of companies, people, or industries about whom the subscriber/userwould like to receive news information). The subscriber/user identifiesthe individual companies, people, and industries which comprise thenews-tracker list to the client program by one of a plurality ofidentifiers such as, for example, the company's stock trading symbol,company name, or corporate UCL (a corporate UCL is a UCL assigned to acompany, not an individual person). For purposes of tracking newsrelated to an individual the individual's UCL or name is used and forindustry news the user identifies one or more SIC (Standard IndustrialClassification) codes to the client program. The client program providesfor the development and maintenance/editing of the news-tracker list.The client program stores the news-tracker list in a news tracker file.A search facility is provided for automatic identification of thecorporate UCL or stock trading symbol (if available) and SIC codes. Theclient computer passes the news-tracker file to the server system oncethe client program has established communications with the serversystem. The server system stores the news tracker file and gathers newscontent via the remote network (i.e. the web/Internet) and/or directcommunications links with news content providers such as, for example,Reuters and PR Newswire and local news content providers. “Local”, interms of news content typically means local to the card issuer(subscriber). The news content is then passed to the client programduring the current or subsequent communications sessions. Therepresentative embodiment of the present invention provides for deliveryof news items/events, including general, national, global and local newsevents and specifically those related to the subscriber's/user'scontacts whom the subscriber/user has identified to the news-trackerlist.

Calendar Based News Tracker Service:

PIM's/CMS's typically have an electronic scheduling or calendar functionor integrate with such technology to allow the user to easily enter,edit, and share an electronic version of their calendar activities. Itis advantageous for both subscribers and users to have knowledge of newsevents involving people and/or companies they will be meeting with orconducting business with in the near future. With knowledge of newsworthy events relating to their business contacts, users/subscribers arethereby more effective business partners, negotiators, competitors,sales people, etc. when they are “face-to-face” with their contact. Itis common, therefor, for business people (particularly sales people) tosearch the Web and other new sources for news articles about the peopleand companies with whom they will be meeting in the near future.Business people often don't have the time, take the time, or remember to“surf the web for news about a contact prior to a calendar event(meeting). Accordingly, the present invention provides the capability toautomatically schedule, collect and deliver to the user's/subscriber'sclient computer news information relating to the user's/subscriber'scontacts with whom he/she will be meeting in the near future. Thepresent invention contains an interface to the scheduling/calendarfunction(s) of PIM's/CMS's. The client program interfaces to theuser's/subscriber's calendar. When making calendar entries, thesubscriber/user preferably enters the UCL of the contacts he/she will bemeeting with. If the user/subscriber does not know the UCL of thecontact, the client program will record the first and last name andcompany name of the contact. The client program stores the UCL or first,last and company name information along with the event date and time ina calendar event file on the client computer. The server system hasaccess to several news content services such as, for example, PRNewswire and Reuters. The next time the client program establishescommunication with the server system the client program will pass theUCL (if available) to the server system and the server system willsearch the various news content services for news topics related to thecompany associated with the UCL. If the UCL is not available, the serversystem will utilize the company name obtained from the calendar systemto direct the news search. If relevant news content is located, theserver system passes the content to the client program during thecurrent or subsequent communication session. The server system continuesto collect and down load news events to the client computer (on aperiodic basis defined by the user/subscriber) until an“end-news-collection” event occurs. An end-news-collection event may be,for example, the expiration of the calendar event (i.e. the date andtime for the meeting has passed), or the event may be a command from theuser, or the passage of a preset period of time, etc. Theuser/subscriber defines to the client program the number of days priorto the calendar event that the system should begin collecting newsevents and the number of days post event that the client program shouldpurge or overwrite old news content. Should the calendar event becanceled or rescheduled, the client program will adjust the dates forcommencement of news content collection, termination of news contentcollection, and purging of news content accordingly.

Personal Address Book/Electronic Registry:

The present invention lends itself to the management of personal contactand personal “advertising” information as well as business contact andadvertisement information management. Similar to a bridal registry, the“subscriber” will complete subscription information and store theinformation in a file(s) identified by a UCL on the server system.Examples of such personal subscription information are illustrated inFIG. 2-D “Personal Address Book”. In the representative embodiment ofthe present invention, the subscriber prints/encodes their UCL on any ofa multiplicity of social communication media such as, for example, abirthday card, Christmas card, post card, letter, email, etc. The UCLmay also be communicated to the user (recipient) verbally or by anyother communications means. The recipient (i.e. user) of the socialcommunication media enters (manually or automatically) the UCL intotheir client computer (i.e. electronic address book). The user's clientcomputer establishes communication with the server system, accesses thesubscriber's file (identified by their UCL) and downloads the personalcontact information to the client computer following essentially thesame process as that of a subscriber and a user storing and downloadingbusiness contact information and news and advertising.

Language Translation:

It is increasingly common for business people to conduct business withcontacts who speak a different first language. Consequently, it iscommon for the card issuer to print, carry, and distribute multiplebusiness cards printed in multiple languages. For example, a Japanesebusiness person will carry a quantity of business cards printed inJapanese and another set of business cards printed in English. Whenconducting business with an American contact the Japanese businessperson will provide his contact with a business card printed in English.The representative embodiment of the present invention provides forautomatic translation of business card information and advertising (andnews content) from the subscriber's primary/preferred language into thepreferred language of the user (i.e. recipient) of the client program.If the subscriber wishes to provide his/her business card information ina language(s) other than their preferred language, then when thesubscriber subscribes to the server system they provide contact andadvertising information in each desired language in addition to theirpreferred language. The server system stores the multiple languageversions of the subscriber's contact and advertising information. Theregistered user has previously registered with the server systemindicating the user's preferred language. When the server systemaccesses the subscriber's contact and advertising files to downloadinformation to the user, the server system will download the informationin the preferred language of the user.

Contact Detail Authorization:

It is desirable that an issuer of business cards (subscriber) be able tocontrol the level of contact information detail which is received by arecipient (user). In one case an issuer may want a recipient to receivemaximum business contact information. In another case the issuer maywant the recipient to receive only limited contact information.Accordingly, the representative embodiment of the present inventionprovides for the subscriber (issuer of business cards) to control thelevel of information detail received by the user (receiver of issuer'sbusiness card). According to one embodiment of the present invention,the subscriber provides multiple, unique versions of his/her “contactdetail” information or “personal address book” information to the serversystem. Accordingly, upon completion of the subscription process and/orsubsequent additions or deletions to the contact detail information orpersonal address book the server system assigns a unique UCL for eachunique version of the contact detail or personal address bookinformation. If the subscriber desires 2 distinct levels of contactdetail available for delivery to receivers then the subscriber provides2 unique versions of his/her contact information, each containing thedesired information and each identified by a unique UCL which isassigned by the server system. The subscriber then encodes businesscards with one of the unique UCL's according to the contact informationhe/she desires to transfer to the receiver.

An alternate embodiment of the present invention provides for analternate method for the subscriber to control the level of detailreceived by a user of the present invention. In the alternateembodiment, the subscriber associates contact detail information withone of a plurality of “levels” during the subscription process. Forexample, the subscriber may assign “name, address, phone number, companyname, title”, etc. to “level 1 detail” and “email address, direct phonenumber, cell phone number”, etc. to “level 2 detail”. The subscriberestablishes with the server system a “default detail level” of “1” tohis/her contact detail information. The subscriber is issued only oneUCL by the server system. When a user downloads the subscriber'sassociated business card information from the server system to theirclient computer, the server system downloads to the client computer onlythe subscriber's contact detail associated with the default detail level(in this example, level “1”) and also updates the subscriber's UUIDsummary file with an entry indicating, for example, that “user UUID Xhas downloaded the subscriber's level 1 contact detail information”. Thenext time the subscriber's client computer establishes communicationwith the server system the server system down loads the contents of thesubscriber's UUID summary file to the subscriber's client computer,stores the UUID summary file information in a UUID authorization file onthe client computer and displays the contents to the subscriber. Thesubscriber is then presented with a menu, which allows the subscriber toalter the detail level associate with each UUID. For example, the clientprogram might present the subscriber with a list of 4 UUID's. Uponreview, the subscriber increases the detail level assigned UUID number 3to “level 2” and leaves UUIDs 1, 2, and 4 at the default level of “level1”. The client program transmits the updated UUID authorization listback to the server system during the current or subsequent communicationsessions. The server system then automatically identifies the updatedauthorization level (now level 2) (see the Optional Services sectiontitled “change of address” above for further detail on how changedinformation is identified) associated with UUID 3 and downloads theadditional detail-level 2 contact information of the subscriber to theuser identified by UUID 3 the next time the user (UUID 3) communicateswith the server system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1-A. Illustrates a schematic diagram of a client computer of thepresent invention.

FIG. 1-B Illustrates a schematic diagram of the server system of thepresent Invention.

FIG. 1-C illustrates a system diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 1-D illustrates an alternate embodiment of a client computer of thepresent invention in the form of a portable computer.

FIG. 1-E illustrates another alternative embodiment of a client computerin the form of a hand held computer.

FIG. 2-A is illustrative of a file system/data structure of the clientcomputer.

FIG. 2-B is illustrative of a file system/data structure of the serversystem.

FIG. 2-C is a block diagram representation of representative datacommunicated between the client computer and the server system.

FIG. 2-D schematically illustrates information contained in thesubscriber account detail file.

FIG. 3 is a system level logic diagram.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the subscriber subscriptionprocess.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrative of the user registration process.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating representative client programfunctions.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating UCL processing on the clientcomputer.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the process of updating contactand advertising detail information on the client computer.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram which illustrates representative functions ofthe serve system.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram which depicts the display/viewing ofadvertisements on the client computer and a representative user action.

FIG. 11-A illustrates an example client computer “background-mode”screen showing example news and advertising.

FIG. 11-B is an example of a client computer “foreground-mode” screenillustrating the entry of UCLs and associated notes and display ofrepresentative advertising.

FIG. 11-C illustrates an example client compute screen depicting anexample focus ad as well as example banner and spot advertisements.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example server system menu screen depicting anexample maintenance menu.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example server system menu screen depicting anexample server system home web page.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example business card front 1502 and back 1504encoded with example human and machine-readable information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Summary:

The user enters the UCL(s) into the client system via automated ormanual methods. The client computer then establishes communication withthe server system and passes one or multiple UCL's to the server system.The server system retrieves the contact information and advertisementsand other data associated with the UCL(s) as well as changed data fromexisting contacts and updates to the client program and transfers thedata (i.e. inbound data) to the client system. The client system andserver system update their respective statistics, configuration, and logfiles before terminating the communication session. The client programstores the received inbound information (i.e. contact, news,advertisement, configuration, etc.) in the designated storage files(i.e. contact information transferred to and stored in the PIM/CMS, theadvertisements stored in the advertising file(s), etc.). Updates arealso made to the appropriate statistics, log, configuration, etc. files.The news and advertising player then displays news and advertisinginformation on the display of the client computer according to theschedule and other parameters of the news and ad control profiles.

System Architecture:

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a “mostlydisconnected”, client-server architecture is provided, though notrequired, for the delivery of business and personal contact informationand advertising. The representative embodiment is “mostly disconnected”because the local or “client” computer is only connected to the remoteor “server” computer for a brief period of time whenever the user of thelocal or client computer connects to the public network (i.e. theInternet) either specifically to communicate with the server system orto perform other functions. Such “other functions” might include, forexample, shopping for goods, trading stocks, or reading an on-lineversion of the Wall Street Journal on the World-Wide-Web (hereinafterreferred to as “the web”). The initiation of the communication sessionwith the remote network (i.e. the Internet) may be caused by manualinput from the user or the communications session may be initiatedautomatically by the client program based upon certain criteria such as,for example, a period of I/O inactivity or idleness (similar to a“screen saver” as well known in the art) or other parameters such thatthe user is not required to manually initiate the communication process.

The Client Computer:

The user of the present invention uses a client computer to run theclient program and to communicate with the server system. In therepresentative embodiment, the client computer is remotely located withrespect to the server system. Typically, there are many users, each witha client computer executing the client program and capable ofcommunicating simultaneously with the server system. Herein the term“client” computer shall be used to represent any local computing devicesuch as a hand-held “palm top” computer, laptop computer, desktopcomputer, terminal, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), PIM (PersonalInformation Manager), Network computer, wireless communicator (such as acellular or satellite telephone), etc. which is capable of communicatingwith a remote or server computer via the remote network. The clientcomputer may also, customarily (as well known in the art), contain anoutput device such as a CRT or LCD screen or plasma display, a manualdata entry device such as a keyboard, keypad, touch screen, voicerecognition system, pen stylus, or other such manual input devices asare commonly know in the art. The client computer may also be equippedwith an automated input device such as a bar code reader, magneticstripe reader, “smart card” reader, MICR (Magnetic Ink CharacterRecognition) reader, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) reader, orother such automated data input devices as are well known in the art. Itis likely that multiple client computers will be communicating with theserver system simultaneously.

In the representative embodiment of the present invention, a clientcomputer is used by each user and runs a client program. The clientcomputer has a secondary memory device, such as, for example, a harddisk drive or non-volatile memory. The client program of the presentinvention is stored on the secondary memory device of the clientcomputer and is executed by the client computer's processor. It will beappreciated by one with skill in the art that the client program mightbe installed on the client computer from a number of sources such as,for example, downloaded over the Internet from a server, bundled withsoftware provided by a third party software manufacturer (such as a Webbrowser provided by a Web browser manufacturer), manually installed froma media such as CD ROM, etc. It will be appreciated that the clientprogram will function in substantially the same manner regardless of theinstallation source or method. The representative embodiment of thepresent invention provides for down-loading of the client program viathe Internet for installation on the client computer.

The client computer has the capability to connect to the remote network.The client computer may connect to the remote/public network via avariety of methods such as a phone modem, wireless (cellular, satellite,microwave, infrared, radio, etc.) network, Local Area Network (LAN),Wide Area Network (WAN), or any such means as necessary to communicateto a server computer connected directly or indirectly to the remotenetwork (i.e. the Internet). The term “wireless” as used in anembodiment of the present invention is defined by the capability of thesystem to transmit digital information from one device to anotherwithout use of cable.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that the operatingsystem for the client computer could be either a single user operatingsystem such as Microsoft DOS or Microsoft Windows or it could be amulti-tasking/multi-threaded operating system such as Unix or MicrosoftWindows NT.

It will be appreciated by one with skill in the art that although theterms “client” and “server” are used herein, the architecture of thepresent invention is not limited to what is known in the art as aclient/server network.

The Network:

As used herein the term “remote network” is used to describe any publicnetwork such as the Internet or World Wide Web or any public or privatenetwork as may be developed in the future which provides a similarservice as the present Internet.

The Server System:

The client program periodically communicates with a server system. Usedherein the term “server” computer is used to describe any remotelylocated (with respect to the client computer) computing device thatstores a database of business and personal contact information and newsitems and advertisements to be accessed by such client computer and suchcontact information and advertisements to be downloaded to one of amultiplicity of client computers.

In the representative embodiment of the present invention the serversystem is comprised of a number of application servers (runningapplication software programs) connected to a number of database servers(running database management software). Each server computer consists ofone or multiple high speed CPU's (Central Processing Unit(s), primarymemory (i.e. RAM) and secondary storage device(s) (i.e. hard diskdrives). In the representative embodiment of the present invention, theserver computer(s) run one of a variety of multi-tasking, multi-threadedoperating systems such as, for example, Microsoft Windows NT, Unix, etc.Together the application software, the database management software, theassociated server computing hardware and operating software, and thecommunications hardware and software, etc. comprise the server system.The application programs, operating system and the database managementprograms may all run on the same computing device as in a traditional“main frame” type of configuration or several, individual yetinterconnected computing devices as in a traditional “multi-tierclient-server” configuration as well know in the art. The server systemis coupled to the remote network (such as the Internet). The serversystem executes a (or multiple depending on the server systemconfiguration) server program(s). The server system and the clientprogram have communications facilities to allow client computers toconnect to and communicate with the server program(s) such that theserver program(s) can communicate with and exchange information with amultiplicity of client programs. It will be appreciated by one withskill in the art that the operating system for the server systemadvantageously is a multitasking/multithreaded operating system, butcould be a single tasking/single threaded operating system.

Causing Connection to the Server System:

In the present invention, the client program will cause the clientcomputer to establish an electronic communications session with theserver system as a result of one of a multiplicity of conditions. Itwill be apparent to one with skill in the art that there are many waysto cause the communication connection between the client computer andthe server system such as; by the user actively selecting a command froma menu such as “update contacts”, by the client program causing a webbrowser resident on the client computer to spawn a “background” processwhile simultaneously performing other tasks, by the completion of theentry of certain data (such as the UCL entered either manually orautomatically), by the passage of time, or by numerous other conditions.For example, in one embodiment, the user establishes a connection to theInternet for the purpose of checking email. Once the connection has beenmade to the Internet, the client program spawns an additional process(as well known in the art) and causes the web browser to establish asecond connection with the server system storing card issuer(subscriber) contact information and advertisements. In anotherembodiment, the user scans the UCL encoded on a business card inmachine-readable format into a palmtop computer. A control character atthe end of the UCL causes the client program on the palmtop computer tocause the palm top's modem to immediately make a wireless connection tothe Internet and pass a preset URL to the palm top's web browser forconnection to the server system. In yet another embodiment, the clientprogram monitors Input/Output activity in much the same manner as a“screen saver” (as well known in the art) might and waits for a periodof inactivity. After a preset period of time has passed without therequisite I/O activity (keyboard activity, mouse activity, printeractivity, network activity, etc.), the client program causes the clientcomputer to establish a communications session with the remote serversystem.

Typically, the client computer is connected either directly via ahardware Network Interface Card or via dial up phone or cable modem to aprivate local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) which has atleast one server connected to the remote network (i.e. World Wide Web,Internet, etc.). Often, the private network and server connection to theremote network are provided by an Internet Service Provider or “ISP” andthe user “dials” into the ISP's network via phone modem. The clientcomputer also runs a program called a “web browser”. This web browser isused to interpret Universal Resource Locators (as well know in the art)which represent the Internet or IP addresses of other computers andresources connected to the web. The browser navigates the web andfacilitates communication with devices attached to the web andinterprets web pages into a form readable on the client computer.

In the representative embodiment, a user (recipient of business cards)also provides certain information to the server system relative to themanufacturer and version of contact management software (CMS) (i.e. ACTversion 5.0, Gold Mine version 4.1, Outlook 97, etc.) in which the userwould like his/her contact management data stored. It will be apparentto one with skill in the art that the client program might alsoautomatically determine the manufacturer and version of the contactmanagement system (CMS/PIM) resident on the client computer andautomatically make the necessary adjustments to communicate with theCMS/PIM.

The client program is made up of a multiplicity of programs that performcertain functions. These programs/functions include, but are not limitedto, for example; an “INSTALLATION AGENT” to install and configure theclient program(s), a “COMMUNICATION MANAGER” to manage the processes ofconnection and communication between the client computer and the serversystem, a “NEWS AND ADVERTISING PLAYER” which manages the display ofnews items and advertisements, a “SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER” which managesthe processes and data associated with subscribing and registering withthe server system. The client program also contains an “EVENT MANAGER”program which records and transfers (to and from the server system) allevents (including the viewing of ads, attempts to alter the clientprogram, etc.) taking place on the client computer, a “UCL MANAGER” or“reader” program to read incoming UCL's from encoded business cards,forward pending contact information and collect inbound contactinformation. The client program also contains a “PIM/CMS INTERFACE”which manages the transfer of information between the client program andthe user's PIM/CMS program.

When submitting an ad to the server system the subscriber completes an“AD CONTROL PROFILE” which is then associated with the ad(s). The adcontrol profile contains parameters which describe the ad type, actions,and display schedule. The ad types include for example “banner” adswhich are typically displayed at either the top or bottom of the clientscreen in a narrow window. Banner ads can be stationary or animated(such as scrolling in a “ticker tape” fashion). Spot ads are displayedat various locations on the client screen and are typically larger thanbanner ads. Spot ads can be stationary or animated. News andadvertisements are typically divided into primary or “header”information and secondary or “body” information similar to a traditionalnewspaper article or magazine advertisement. The header portion of newsitems and advertisements are typically displayed first. The user canthen initiate certain commands or functions which will cause the clientprogram (i.e. the news and ad player) to perform certain actions.“Actions” determine what actions or functions the client program (i.e.the news and ad player) is to perform should the ad be selected. Forexample, the user clicking on a spot or banner ad (typically the“headline” or “header” portion of the news item or advertisement) causesthe display of a “focus ad” which displays additional information (i.e.the “body” information of the associated spot or banner ad) in a largerwindow. The user can then initiate further action(s) (if desired) tocommunicate with the issuer (or an associate of the issuer) of the newsitem or advertisement. Such further actions might include, for example,connecting to the advertisers web site, or sending an email to the localrepresentative of the advertiser, etc. The AD CONTROL PROFILE containsan AD DISPLAY SCHEDULE which controls when the ad is eligible to be downloaded from the server system to the client program, when the ad iseligible to be deleted (or over written) from the client computer, howoften the ad is to be displayed to the user, etc.

System Components:

FIG. 1-C illustrates an exemplary system configuration of the presentinvention. The representative embodiment is illustrative of an Internetor World-Wide-Web based business card system. The representativeembodiment of the present invention provides for a computer based systemthat allows business card issuers to encode their business cards FIG. 15with a unique identifier 1508 and store contact information FIG. 2-D andadvertising information FIGS. 2-D & 12 in a file identified by theunique identifier 1508 on a remote server system 130 and transfer thecontact and ad information to a client computer 100 and display thecontact information FIG. 2-D and advertising information FIGS. 2-D & 12on the display device 102 of the client computer 100. A receiver (hereinoften referred to as a “user”) of the issuer's (herein often referred toas a “subscriber”) encoded business card FIG. 15 uses a client computer100 running a client program 200 to access the subscriber's storedcontact and advertising information FIG. 2-D stored on the remote serversystem 130 and down load the subscriber's contact information 208.2.2and advertising information 208.2.10 to his/her client computer 100 andstore the down loaded information on the primary 110 and secondary 104storage devices of the client computer 100. It will be appreciated thatalthough the representative embodiment of the present invention refersto the utilization of business cards FIG. 15, the present invention isapplicable to other social and personal communications media such asgreeting cards, post cards, written and electronic mail, etc.

Client Computer:

Client computer 100 is typically a personal computer as illustrated inFIG. 1-A, but may also be a portable computer such as a laptop ornotebook computer as illustrated in FIG. 1-D or a wireless communicatoror hand held computer such as a cellular phone or PDA (i.e. 3-com's PalmPilot) as indicated in FIG. 1-E. It is common for users of clientcomputers 100 (particularly portable or hand held computing devices asillustrated in FIGS. 1-D & 1-E) to maintain information on amultiplicity of client computers. It is often desirable for a singleuser of such multiple client computers 100 to synchronize or replicatethe information contained on each of the multiple client computers suchthat all of the single user's multiple client computers contain the sameinformation. Accordingly the present invention provides for utilizationof client computers 100 and supplemental client computer(s) 115.Although the representative embodiment of the present inventiondiscusses the use of client computer(s), it will be appreciated by onewith skill in the art that a supplemental client computer 115 may alsobe utilized to send and receive information directly to and from theserver system. Alternatively, supplemental client computer 115 maysend/receive information indirectly to/from the server system 130 viathe client computer 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1-C.

As illustrated in FIG. 1-A, client computer 100 includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 108 to execute programs (including the clientprogram) and manage the operation of the client computer 100. Primarymemory 110 (i.e. high speed random access memory) is coupled to the CPU108 and is used for temporary storage of programs and data, and asecondary memory device 104 (i.e. disk or optical storage) coupled tothe CPU 108 is used for non-volatile storage of programs and data. Aremovable media storage 106 (i.e. floppy disk or CD ROM or optical disk)is coupled to the central processing unit 108 for purposes of loadingcomputer programs, including the client program, and data into theclient computer 100 and for non-volatile storage of computer programsand data. Output device 102 (i.e. CRT or LCD panel) is also coupled tothe CPU 108 and provides a user interface and manual input devices 113,114 and 116 such as audio input microphone, key board and mouse andautomated input device(s) 117 and/or 118 such as bar code or magneticstripe reader(s) coupled to the CPU 108 provide means for a user of theclient computer 100 to input commands, data, etc. Other input devicessuch as, for example, touch screen, voice recognition 113, OpticalCharacter Recognition, Smart Card reader, etc. are examples ofalternative input devices for alternative embodiments of the presentinvention. A communications interface(s) 112 such as a phone modem ornetwork interface (NIC) card is coupled to the CPU and provides a meansfor the client computer 100 to communicate with the server system 130and other computers via the remote network 120.

Although FIG. 1-C illustrates only 1 client computer 100 communicatingwith the server system 130 it is understood that the present inventionis intended to support a plurality of client computers 100 (of amultiplicity of configurations) communicating with the server system 130simultaneously. It will be appreciated by one with skill in the art thatthe type of computing device which comprises the client computer 100 andthe type of device which comprises communications interface 112 may be avariety of different devices and configurations and technologies and maybe physically packaged as one or many distinct entities. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 1-D the client computer 100 may consist of a laptopor notebook computer 113 (as well known in the art) with a built-in,wireless modem which communicates to the remote network 120 via asupplemental digital or analog cellular or satellite communicationsnetwork. Or, as illustrated in FIG. 1-E, the client computer 100 mightconsist of a hand-held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) 103 or wirelesstelephone and communicate via a built-in cellular or satellite modem 112to the remote network 120 via a satellite-based or cellular or radiobased communication system. The spirit of the representative embodimentof the present invention is to provide for a client computer 100 that iscapable of providing adequate processing power and storage for programsand data and which will communicate with a remote server system 130 viaa remote network 120. As illustrated in FIG. 1-E, it is desirable andadvantageous that the client computer 100 be highly mobile (i.e. batterypowered, hand-held, etc.) and be capable of wireless communication withthe server system 130.

The communications interface 112 might, alternatively, be a networkinterface card (NIC) which communicates with a Local Area Network (LAN)or Wide Area Network (WAN), or the like, communicating via TCP/IP orX.25 or other such network protocols, which in turn communicates with oris coupled to the remote network 120.

For purposes of clarity, client computers 100 belonging to subscribersare often referred to herein as “subscriber client” computers 100 andclient computers 100 belonging to registered users are often referred toas “user client” computers 100.

The Remote Network:

The client computer 100 is located remotely from the server system 130and communicates periodically with the server system 130 via the remotenetwork 120. In the representative embodiment of the present inventionthe remote network 120 is the Internet or World Wide Web (hereinreferred to as “the web”), but it will be appreciated that the networkmay be any such communications network, either public or private or acombination, which provides computer-to-computer communications betweena plurality of client computers 100 and the server system 130. WhileFIG. 1-C illustrates one client computer 100 communicating with theserver system 130, it is understood that the present invention providesfor many client computers (in any multitude of configurations) tocommunicate simultaneously with the server system. A communicationsession is established between the client computer and the server system130 by causing the client computer communications interface 112 toestablish an electronic dialog with the server system's communicationsinterface 132 via the remote network 120 (i.e. the world wide web or theInternet).

The Server System:

The server system 130 is coupled to one or more remote networks 120 viaone or more communications interface devices 132 and one or morecommunications servers 136. The server system 130 receives, stores, andtransmits the contact information FIG. 2-D and advertisements FIG. 11-Cof subscribers who have subscribed to the server system 130. The serversystem 130 also receives, stores and transmits other information to andfrom client computers such as ad viewer statistics, user statistics, logfiles, ad control programs, etc. as described herein. The server system130 also receives news information 264.4 from news information providers290 and advertising information 264.4 from advertisers 292 either viadirect communications link or via the remote network 120.

The representative embodiment of the present invention provides for amulti-tier, client server architecture for the server system 130. Assuch, server system 130 is comprised of a plurality of high performanceservers 134-137 coupled together via a high-speed network 138. Therepresentative embodiment of the present invention provides for aplurality of application servers, a plurality of database servers, aplurality of communications servers and a plurality of subscription andregistration servers. It will be appreciated by one with skill in theart, however, that Server system 130 could, alternatively, be configuredin many different configurations suitable to varying technologies. Forexample, an alternative configuration might consist of one or multiplelarge server(s) performing multiple functions as in a traditional “mainframe” configuration. Alternatively, the individual servers 134-137 ofserver system 130 could perform multiple functions such as applicationserver and subscription and registration server in one physical entity.It is also understood that the devices which comprise server system 130may be located in geographically dispersed locations or may all residein one physical location.

Server Computers:

The representative embodiment of the present invention provides for oneor more SUBSCRIPTION & REGISTRATION SERVERS 137 1-y which accommodatefirst time users in registering or subscribing to (as described herein)the server system 130. DATABASE SERVERS 135 1-n support (i.e. executeprograms and store data, accept inputs and produce outputs, etc.) thedatabase management system 264 of the server system 130. APPLICATIONSERVERS 134 1-z execute and store the application programs of the serversystem 130. Communications servers 136 1-x provide communicationsconnectivity between the server system 130 and client computers 100 viathe remote network 120.

The individual servers 134-137 of server system 130 each, typically,contain the following components: one or more high speed CPU's, primarymemory (i.e. high speed RAM), one or more secondary storage devices(i.e. high capacity hard disk drive(s)), removable media drives (such asCD ROM or tape) for loading and storage of programs and data, and one ormore network interface card(s) or other such means to interface to thelocal high speed network 138. Additionally, connected to the localhigh-speed network 138, are a plurality of network devices such as highcapacity, high-speed secondary storage devices 144 (such as hard diskdrives), backup/archive devices 140 and 141 such as tape and/or opticaldisk drives for high capacity, high-speed loading of programs and dataas well as archival and backup of programs and data. One or moreconsoles 145 (or other such user interface devices such as a CRT), andkeyboard 146 and mouse 147 are also provided for operator control of theserver system. The local network 138 is a high-speed, high-capacityEthernet or other such-high speed, high-capacity network as to providehigh-speed, high bandwidth computer-to-computer communications.

Basic System Logic:

For purposes of clarity the movement of information (programs, files,data, etc.) between the client computers 100 and the server system 130can be described from the perspective of the client computer.Information which is transferred (often referred herein as “uploaded”)from the client computer to the server system is often referred toherein as “outbound” information (programs, files, data, or other suchdigital information). Information which is transferred from the serversystem to the client computer (often referred to herein as “downloaded”)is often referred to herein as “inbound” information.

For purposes of clarity, client computers belonging to subscribers areoften referred to herein as “subscriber client computers” and clientcomputers belonging to registered users are often referred to as “userclient computers”.

In the representative embodiment of the present invention it is desired,though not required, that some information such as, for example, thesubscriber account header 264.6.2, the subscriber password 264.6.4 andthe registration information 264.6.6 is established directly on theserver system 130 and is not uploaded from the client computer 100 andis therefor identified in FIG. 2-C by an asterisk ‘*’. Third party newsand advertising information is transferred directly to the server system130 from 3^(rd) party news and advertising content providers 290 & 292.

FIG. 3 illustrates the basic processes of the representative embodimentof the present invention. Step 300: a user subscribes to server system130 and thus becomes a subscriber and is issued a Universal ContactLocator (UCL) 1508. Step 303: a subscriber to server system 130 encodesbusiness cards FIG. 15 with their Universal Contact Locator (UCL) 1508.Step 305 the subscriber creates subscriber account detail information208.2 & FIG. 2-D. Subscriber account detail 208.2 and FIG. 2-D consistsof one or more files (or other such data structures as are well known inthe art) which include; Contact detail 208.2.2, Web Tracker 208.2.6,subscriber news and advertising 208.2.10, client computer configuration208.2.12, personal address book 208.2.14 and other files. Subscriberaccount detail and related files are discussed in greater detail belowin the section titled “establishing a subscriber account”. Thesubscriber account detail 208.2 and FIG. 2-D is then stored in one ormore “subscription and registration files” 264.6 on the server system130. Subscriber account detail files 208.2 and the subscriber event logfile(s) and other files constitute the “subscriber's outboundinformation” (FIG. 2-C). Step 310: The server system 130 associates thesubscriber account detail files 208.2 & FIG. 2-D created in step 305with the subscriber's UCL 1508 and stores the files on the server system130.

Step 320: A first-time user registers with server system 130 and thusbecomes a registered user (herein referred to as simply a “user”) and isassigned a Universal User Identifier (UUID) as described below. The userinstalls a client program 200 on client computer 100. Typically(preferably) the client program 200 is down loaded from server system130 via the remote network 120 and stored on secondary storage device104 of client computer 100. Alternatively, the client program 200 mightbe mailed to the user via the US mail or other such means (or receivedalong with other software provided by a third party) on removable mediasuch as floppy disk or optical disk and installed on the client computer100.

Installation of the client program 200 on the client computer 100 istypically accomplished using an installation agent or install program202 (some times referred to herein as an “installation script”) Theinstallation agent is discussed in further detail below in the sectiontitled ” client program installation and configuration”. Once the clientprogram 200 is installed on the client computer 100 the user is able toutilize the reader function 212.2 of the client program 200 to “read” oraccept UCL's 1508 as encoded on the received business card(s) 1502 orother business, personal or social communication media of a subscriber.The reader function 212.2 of the client program 200 reads the UCL 1508and stores the UCL in a “pending contacts” file 212.4 on the user clientcomputer 100 until such time as the user manually initiates or theclient program 200 automatically initiates a communication session(either wire based or wireless) between the client computer 100 and theserver system 130.

Once the communications session is established between the clientcomputer 100 and server system 130 the client program 200 passes theuser outbound information i.e. the contents of the pending contacts file212.4 (i.e. a list of stored UCLs and supplemental information) to theserver system 130. The server system then locates the subscriberoutbound information SOI (i.e. contact records 208.2.2, news andadvertisement records 208.2.10, web tracker records 208.2.6, etc.) ofeach subscriber, each subscriber's outbound information being identifiedby the subscriber's individual UCL 1508. The combination of one or moresubscriber's outbound information SOI with third-party news andadvertising 264.4, and updates associated with client programs, etc.constitute “user inbound information” UII. The server system 130 thendownloads the user inbound information UII to the client computer 100via the remote network 120 and stores the information temporarily in an“inbound spool” file 212.6 on the client computer 100 and terminates thecommunications session. The client program 200 then (steps 330 and 335)transfers the user inbound information UII to the appropriate storagefiles on the client computer. For example, the subscriber contact detail208.2.2 & FIG. 2-D is transferred to the PIM/CMS 216 via the PIM/CMSinterface 214, the subscriber advertising 208.2.10 & FIG. 2-D istransferred to an “advertisements” file 206.2, the inbound news items208.2.10 are transferred to the “news items” file 206.6, etc. Each userinbound information UII record is stored with the associated UCL 1508 ofthe subscriber such that the information can be located by the user orthe user client program by UCL. The “news and advertising player” 206 ofthe client program then displays (step 340) the news and advertisementsstored in the news 206.6 and advertisement 206.2 files of the userclient computer 100 according to the parameters of the ad controlprofile 206.4 and news control profile 206.8 of each news item oradvertisement.

Establishing a Subscriber Account: FIG. 4

Account Header (Step 405):

An issuer of business cards or other such business, social or personalcommunications media communicates with the server system 130 and storessubscriber outbound information SOI on the server system 130 for latertransmission to users of user client computers 100.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the potential subscriber establishescommunication with a Subscription & Registration Sever 137 for purposesof establishing a Subscriber Account. The subscription and registrationmanager program 252 of the server system application program(s) 250presents the potential subscriber with a “Subscription and Registration”screen. The potential subscriber completes (step 405) the account headerinformation 264.6.2 such as, for example, name, company name, address,billing method (credit card, company purchase order, etc.), billingaddress, phone number, email address, manufacturer and version number ofthe operating system of the client computer, etc. Account headerinformation 264.6.2 fields which are optional are indicated as such. Theserver system 130 contains a plurality of directories andsub-directories, one of which may be titled, for example, the“Subscription and Registration Information” sub-directory 264.6. Oncethe subscriber has completed the subscriber account header information264.6.2, the subscription and registration manager 252 assigns (step410) a Unique alpha numeric Contact identifier (herein referred to as aUniversal Contact Locator or UCL 1508) to the newly subscribedsubscriber and creates (step 415) a “subscriber account” file in the“subscription and registration Information” sub-directory 264.6 on thedatabase management system 264 of the server system 130. Thesubscriber's subscriber-account file is identified by the subscriber'sUCL. The subscriber-account file will be used by the server system tolocate information associated with the subscriber (i.e. the subscriber'soutbound information SOI).

Password(s) (Step 420):

The subscriber is required to establish a password 264.6.4 (step 420)and is routed to a “password creation” screen. The password 264.6.4 isrequired for the subscriber to perform certain access and maintenancefunctions such as, for example, updating of billing information,updating of advertisements or updating of his/her own subscriberoutbound information SOI.

Configuration Header (Step 425):

The subscriber is also required to complete (step 425) headerinformation (i.e. base information) for the “configuration” file208.2.12. The configuration file 208.2.12 contains information tosupport proper delivery and installation of the subscriber clientprogram 200 on the subscriber client computer 100 as well as the propercommunication between the subscriber client program 200 and the serversystem 130. The configuration file 208.2.12 contains such informationas, for example, the type of communication interface 112 on thesubscriber client computer 100 (i.e. v.90 compatible 56K modem, cablemodem, Ethernet network interface connection, etc.), phone dialingpattern for accessing an outside phone line(s) or service provider(s),etc. The configuration file 208.2.12 is then stored on both the serversystem 130 and the client computer 100 (when the client program 200 isinstalled on the client computer). The configuration header informationis completed by the user to ensure that the proper version of the clientprogram is delivered to the subscriber.

Subscription Detail Information:

The subscriber is offered the choice of completing the subscriberaccount detail information 208.2 on-line (i.e. while the communicationsession between the client computer and the server system is active) oroff-line. If on-line (completion of subscriber detail) is chosen thenthe subscriber completes the subscriber account detail 208.2 on-line. Asnoted above, the subscriber account detail 208.2 and FIG. 2-D consistsof one or more files (or other such data structures as are well known inthe art) which include; Contact detail 208.2.2, Web Tracker 208.2.6,subscriber news and advertising 208.2.10, configuration 208.2.12,personal address book 208.2.14 and other files. When on-line completionof the subscriber detail information 208.2 is complete the subscriptionand registration manager 252 attaches (step 427) the subscriber's UCL1508 to the client program 200 and downloads the client program 200(step 430) via the remote network 120 to the client computer 100.

If “off-line” (completion of subscriber detail) is chosen (as describedbelow), then the subscription and registration manager 252 attaches thesubscriber's UCL 1508 to the client program 200 and down-loads (that isto say “transfers”) the client program 200 including the subscriber'sown personal UCL 1508 to the client computer 100 and terminates thecommunication session.

Installing the Subscriber Client Program (Step 435):

The client program 200 must be installed on the client computer 100 andproperly configured. The subscription & registration manager 252attaches the subscriber's UCL 1508 (step 427) to the client program andthe subscription and registration server 137 downloads the clientprogram (step 430) to the client computer 100. It will be appreciated byone with skill in the art that it may be beneficial for the serversystem 130 to down load a client program 200 which is capable ofoperating on a variety of client computer operating systems 101 and ofcommunicating with a wide variety of CMS (Contact Management System)systems 216 (i.e. Act, Gold Mine, Outlook, Palm Pilot, etc). Conversely,in the interest of efficiency, it may be beneficial for the subscriberto select (or the server system to automatically assign), while on linewith the server system, a client program 200 which is optimizedspecifically for one or a subset of operating platforms 100 & 101 and iscapable of communicating with just one or a subset of the possible CMSsystems 216 available.

Referring now to FIG. 4, once the subscriber account header 264.6.2(step 405) and configuration header (step 425) information is completeand the subscriber's UCL 1508 and password 264.6.4 are assigned (steps410 and 420), the server system attaches the subscriber's UCL to theclient program (step 427) and downloads, i.e. transfers, (step 430) theclient program including the subscriber's own UCL 1508 to thesubscriber's client computer 100.

It will be appreciated by one with skill in the art that there are amultitude of viable methods for installing and configuring the clientprogram 200 on the client computer such as, for example, downloading theclient program 200 over the remote network 120 and automaticallyinstalling the client program 200 on the client computer 100 using aninstallation and configuration agent 202 or manually installing theclient program 200 from a floppy disk, CD ROM, or DVD, etc. with theassistance of an installation and configuration agent or wizard 202 (aswell known in the art). An installation and configuration agent 202might, for example, accompany the client program 200 which couldautomatically configure and install the client program 200 on the clientcomputer 100. The representative embodiment of the present inventionprovides for the automatic delivery, installation and configuration ofthe client program 200 via remote network 120. An installation agent isbut one example of how the client program delivery, installation andconfiguration might be accomplished.

The client program 200 includes a setup program/installation agent (orscript) 202 which will determine if there is sufficient space on thestorage device 104 of the client computer 100 in which to install theclient program 200. When run, the setup program/installation agent 202automatically creates the necessary directory(s), sub-directories,icon(s), etc. on the client computer 100. The installation agenttypically automatically identifies client computer resources (such asdrive and path names, modem configuration, etc.) and automaticallyinstalls the client program. Alternatively, the installation script mayprompt the user for information to assist in the installation such asmodem type and speed, phone dialing procedures (i.e. access to outsidedial tone), directory paths, optional functions, etc.. The installationagent then installs and stores the client program 200 and it'sassociated files and executable programs in the directory(s) and it'sassociated sub-directories. For example, the directory created by theinstallation agent/setup program might be labeled “Webbcard”. Theinstallation script/agent then creates a plurality of sub-directories(as are well know by one with skill in the art) such as, for example, a“Webbcard.bin” sub-directory for executable program(s) and associatedDLL's, a “Webbcard.tmp” sub-directory for temporary files, etc. A“subscriber account detail” sub-directory 208.2 is also created which isdescribed below. The installation and configuration agent 202 alsocreates other files necessary for the proper functioning of the clientprogram. Other files are automatically created by the installation andconfiguration agent, for example, the “event log” file 210.2 fortracking the performance of the client computer (i.e. errors, filecorruption, communication statistics, etc.) and a “configuration” file208.2.12 which describes Universal Resource Locators, modem numbers,etc. necessary for the client computer 100 to communicate with theserver system 130. The setup program/installation agent 202 alsodetermines if a previous version of the client program 200 has beeninstalled and if updating of the previous version to a newer version isrequired.

Completing the Subscriber Account Detail (208.2) (Step 440):

The newly established subscriber can complete the subscriber accountdetail 208.2 either on-line or off-line (with respect to the serversystem). The representative embodiment of the present inventiondescribes the method of completing the subscriber account detail 208.2off-line with respect to the server system 130, but it will beappreciated that the spirit and functionality of the present inventionare not altered if completion of the subscription detail information isperformed on-line.

The subscriber account detail 208.2 sub-directory consists of aplurality of files such as, for example, “contact detail” 208.2.2,“configuration” 208.2.12, “web tracker” 208.2.6, “subscriber news andadvertising” 208.2.10, “personal address book” 208.2.14, etc. asdiscussed in greater detail below. To complete the subscription detail,the subscriber is presented with screens containing menu selectionsnecessary to complete the desired information. One of the multiplicityof programs which make up the client program 200 is a program whichmanages the subscription process. In the representative embodiment ofthe present invention this program is titled the “subscription manager”208.

The client program 200 (once installed and configured on the clientcomputer 100) executes the subscription manager 208 and the subscriptionmanager 208 presents the subscriber with a series of screens (via userinterface 102) which present the subscriber with known information aboutthe subscriber, if any (i.e. subscription header information) and thesubscriber's client computer, if any (i.e. configuration information)and asks the subscriber to provide subscription detail information (FIG.2-D). The screens, commands, menu items, etc. of the subscriptionmanager 208 lead the subscriber through the process of completing thesubscriber account detail information 208.2 as discussed in furtherdetail below.

Contact Detail File 208.2.2:

The subscriber contact detail file 208.2.2 contains information aboutthe subscriber such as that illustrated in FIG. 2-D. It will beappreciated that the information listed in FIG. 2-D is onlyrepresentative data and could very well include additional data or asubset of the data listed. The subscriber contact detail file 208.2.2 isstored on the client computer 100 in the “subscriber account detail”sub-directory 208.2 and a copy of the file uploaded to the server system130 for storage and is identified by the subscriber's UCL 1508.

Subscriber News & Advertising 208.2.10:

The subscriber has the option of including news and advertisements208.2.10 in his/her subscription (i.e. submitting news andadvertisements to the server system for storage and later downloading byusers). If the subscriber elects to include news and advertisements208.2.10 in their subscription they are then presented with a news andadvertising setup screen where the subscriber records information aboutthe news and advertisements 208.2.10 to be associated with their accountand later stored on the server system 130. The news and advertisingsetup screen will present the subscriber with, for example,questions/options such as; the number, type (graphic, animated graphic,audio, video, etc.), format (banner, spot, etc.), file type (BMP, MPEG,JPEG, TIFF, etc.), start date (i.e. the date the ad is eligible fordownloading to users), end date (i.e. the date the ad(s) is to replacedor over written), frequency, etc. The actual advertisements 208.2.10themselves may be up-loaded to the server system 130 at the end of thesubscription detail process or delivered to the server system at a latertime and periodically in the future as the subscriber develops newadvertisements.

Optional Services Profile 208.2.4:

The subscriber may select additional services such as, for example,“change of address”, “Web tracker” 208.2.6, “language translator”, andothers (described in greater detail in the summary section titledOptional Services). As these optional services 208.2.4 are selected thesubscriber is presented with setup screen(s) for the associated optionalservice(s).

Upland Detail to Server Steps 442 & 445:

The subscriber completes the subscriber account detail information208.2, causes the client computer 100 to establish a communicationsession with the server system 130 and up-loads (i.e. transfers from theclient computer 100 to the server system 130) the subscriber accountdetail information 208.2 to the server system 130. The server system 130then stores the subscriber account detail information in the previouslycreated sub-directory 264.6 (on the server system 130) associated withthis particular subscriber and identified by the subscriber's UCL 1508.If the subscriber has elected to complete the subscriber account detailinformation 208.2 on-line then the subscriber completes the informationon-line and the Subscription/Registration server(s) 137 stores thesubscriber detail file in the “subscription and registrationsub-directory 264.6 on the server system.

It will be appreciated that the creation of a subscriber account andsubmission of subscriber account detail information can be performed bythe subscriber or by an authorized agent or representative of thesubscriber such as, for example, a printer or manufacturer of businesscards.

Establishing a Registered User Account FIG. 5:

A first-time user of the invention establishes communication with aSubscription & Registration Sever(s) 137 for purposes of establishing aRegistered User Account (FIG. 5) and the subscription and registrationmanager 252 presents the subscriber with a “Subscription andRegistration” screen. The first-time user is asked to enter accountinformation (step 515) (certain information is required to become aregistered user, some is not) such as, for example, name, company name,title, phone number, email address, etc. Certain additional informationmay be collected for marketing purposes, but is not required. Once theuser has completed the required registration information they areconsidered a registered user (referred to herein as simply a “user”).The subscription and registration manager 252 then automatically assignsa unique Universal alpha-numeric User Identifier (UUID) (step 520) andcreates a Registered User Account file (step 525), “attaches” the UUIDto the client program (step 527) and downloads the client program 200(step 530) to the user's client computer 100 and terminates thecommunication session between the user client computer 100 and theserver system 130. The client program for the registered user isinstalled (step 535) according to the same procedures as described abovefor the subscriber. The UUID is an alpha numeric string of characters ofsubstantially the same nature as the UCL, but will identify to theserver system 130 that this user is a registered user and not aregistered subscriber. A registered user identified with a UUID has thesame privileges relative to the server system as a subscriber identifiedby a UCL with the exception that the registered user does not have theability to submit and store his/her own outbound information (i.e.contact and advertisement information) on the server system. A user onlyreceives inbound information (i.e. the subscriber outbound informationsubmitted by the subscriber). A subscriber is also, typically, aregistered user and accordingly is provided with a client program, but aregistered user is not (necessarily) a subscriber. A registered user(herein referred to as simply a “user”) can become a subscriber bysubscribing to the server system 130 and completing the necessarysubscriber information.

UUID:

A Universal User Identifier (UUID) is assigned (step 520) to eachindividual client program 200 as it is downloaded from the server system130 to the user client computer 100 and the same UUID is also assignedto the individual registered user. If the client program 200 isdownloaded from the server system 130 via the remote network 120 thenthe server system assigns the UUID to the user at the time the userregisters and the server system 130 downloads the client program 200 tothe user's client computer 100. If the client program 200 is received bythe user by means other than downloading via the remote network 120 thenthe UUID assigned to the client program is not associated with the useruntil such time as the first-time user establishes a communicationsession with the server system 130 and registers as described above.

Installing the User Client Program (Step 535):

The user client program 200 must be installed on the client computer 100and properly configured before the registered user can operate the userclient program 200. The term “user client program” is used herein simplyto distinguish the client program 200 installed on a user's clientcomputer 100 from the client program 200 installed on a subscriber'sclient computer 100. The user client program and the subscriber clientprogram may be, in all respects, essentially identical programs.

The subscription & registration manager 252 attaches the user's UUID(step 527) to the client program and downloads the client program (step530) to the client computer 100. It will be appreciated by one withskill in the art that it may be beneficial for the server system 130 todown load a client program 200 which is capable of operating on avariety of client computer operating systems 101 and of communicatingwith a wide variety of CMS (Contact Management System) systems 216 (i.e.Act, Gold Mine, Outlook, Palm Pilot, etc.). Conversely, in the interestof efficiency, it may be beneficial for the user to select (or theserver system to automatically assign), while on line with the serversystem, a client program 200 which is optimized specifically for one ora subset of operating platforms 100 & 101 and is capable ofcommunicating with just one or a subset of the possible CMS systems 216available.

Referring now to FIG. 5, once the user account information is completeand the user's UUID is assigned (step 520), the server system attachesthe user's UUID to the client program (step 527) and downloads, i.e.transfers, (step 530) the client program including the user's own UUIDto the user's client computer 100 for installation (step 535) of clientprogram 200 on the user's client computer 100.

Just as in the case of the subscriber client program 200, it will beappreciated by one with skill in the art that there are a multitude ofviable methods for installing and configuring the client program 200 onthe user's client computer such as, for example, downloading the clientprogram 200 over the remote network 120 and automatically installing theclient program 200 on the client computer 100 using an installation andconfiguration agent 202 or manually installing the client program 200from a floppy disk, CD ROM, tape, DVD, etc. with the assistance of aninstallation and configuration script or wizard 202 (as well known inthe art). An installation and configuration agent 202 might, forexample, accompany the client program 200 which could automaticallyconfigure and install the client program 200 on the client computer 100.The representative embodiment of the present invention provides for theautomatic delivery, installation and configuration of the client program200 via remote network 120 and an installation agent 202 and is but oneexample of how the client program 200 delivery, installation andconfiguration might be accomplished.

The client program 200 includes a setup program/installation agent (orscript) 202 which will determine if there is sufficient space on thestorage device 104 of the client computer 100 in which to install theclient program 200 and to store advertisements 206.2 and news items206.6 (to be down loaded to the client computer in the future) andadditional contact records 208.2 (to be loaded in the future). When run,the setup program/installation agent 202 automatically creates thenecessary directory(s), sub-directories, icon(s), etc. on the clientcomputer 100. The installation agent typically automatically identifiesclient computer resources (such as drive and path names, modemconfiguration, CMS/PIM manufacturer and version, etc.) and automaticallyinstalls the client program. Alternatively, the installation script mayprompt the user for information to assist in the installation such asmodem type and speed, phone dialing procedures (i.e. access to outsidedial tone), directory paths, CMS/PIM information, optional functions,etc. The installation agent then installs and stores the client program200 and it's associated files and executable programs in thedirectory(s) and it's associated sub-directories. For example, thedirectory created by the installation agent/setup program might belabeled “Webbcard”. The installation script/agent then creates aplurality of sub-directories (as are well know by one with skill in theart) such as, for example, a “Webbcard.bin” sub-directory for executableprogram(s) and associated DLL's, a “Webbcard.tmp” sub-directory fortemporary files, etc. The installation agent might also createsub-directories such as, for example, an “in-bound” sub-directory whichthe client program will use to locate storage of user inboundinformation UII files (i.e. contact details and advertisementinformation) transferred from the server system to the client program,and an “outbound” sub-directory to locate user outbound information UOIfiles that contain information that is to be transferred to the serversystem 130 from the client computer 100. The installation andconfiguration agent 202 also creates other files necessary for theproper functioning of the client program. Other files are automaticallycreated by the installation and configuration agent, for example, in the“outbound” sub-directory such as, for example, a “pending contacts” file212.4 for storage of entered UCL's prior to transfer to the serversystem, a “viewer statistics” file 210.4 for storing statistics relatedto the user's viewing (of ads and news items) statistics, an “event log”file 210.2 for tracking the performance of the client computer (i.e.errors, file corruption, communication statistics, etc.), etc. Examplesof files created under the “inbound” sub-directory might include, forexample, a “news and advertising player” 206 file to locate theprogram(s) which display the news and advertising items 206.2 and 206.6to be downloaded to the client computer in the future. Other filesautomatically created by the installation agent 202 might also include,for example, an “advertisements” file 206.2 for location ofadvertisements (such as illustrated in FIG. 11-C) down loaded from theserver system, an “inbound contact spooler” file 212.6 for temporarystorage of inbound contact details prior to transfer to the PIM/CMS, a“configuration” file 208.2.12 which describes Universal ResourceLocators, modem numbers, and other parameters necessary for the clientcomputer 100 to communicate with the server system 130. The setupprogram/installation agent 202 also determines if a previous version ofthe client program 200 has been installed and if updating of theprevious version to a newer version is required.

Receiving Card Holder (Subscriber) Information (FIG. 7):

Referring now to FIG. 7. In the representative embodiment of the presentinvention the user may configure the client program to start up in oneof two primary display modes (step 700) i.e. “foreground mode” asillustrated in FIG. 11-B or “background mode” as illustrated in FIG.11-A. The user can easily alternate between foreground and backgroundmodes by activation of a command. If the client program 200 isconfigured to start up (i.e. run the client program 200 and display thefirst display screen) in foreground mode, then upon start up (eithermanual or automatic) of the client program 200 the client program 200will cause (step 702) a first screen such as that illustrated by FIG.11-B to display on the output device 102 of the client computer 100.Foreground mode provides the user with display elements (i.e. menuitems, program commands, controls, etc.) such as, for example, 1102,1104, 1108, 1110, 1112 displayed on the first screen as well as news andadvertising display elements 1114, 1116, etc. displayed simultaneouslywith the menu and control display elements on the first and subsequentscreens. If the operating platform (i.e. operating system, programminglanguage, and hardware) of the client computer 100 support a “windowing”type of user interface (as well known in the art) (such as MicrosoftWindows) then the display elements (i.e. screens, data entry fields,menu items, etc.) displayed by the client program 200 on the outputdevice 102 of the client computer 100 may be displayed in re-sizablewindows (as well known in the art).

Display element 1102 is a “pull down menu”, as well known in the art,and allows the user to activate or deactivate additional programfunctions and display elements (such as display elements 1104, 1108,1110, and 1112. Selection of a data entry field such as, for example1108, allows the user to enter data such as UCL's as described ingreater detail below in the section titled “RECEIVING SUBSCRIBERINFORMATION”.

If the client program is configured to start up in background mode, thenupon start up of the client program 200 the client program will cause afirst screen such as that illustrated by FIG. 11-A to display on theoutput device 102 of the client computer 100. In the representativeembodiment of the present invention, the background mode allows theclient computer 100 to run (i.e. execute) and display other programs(herein referred to as “companion programs”) such as, for example, aword processing program, email program, spread sheet program, etc.within a companion window 1101 of a first screen and additional screensof the client program 200. Other display elements of a first screen ofthe client program 200 such as, for example, display elements 1114, 1116(news and advertising display elements) etc. are displayed independentlyof items displayed within companion window 1101. The user can enterUCL's 1508 (illustrated by 1506) into the client program 200 inbackground mode via automatic input devices such as magnetic stripe(1506) reader 117 or bar code reader 118 or other such automatic inputdevices. While in background mode client program 200 confirms validautomatic entry of UCL's by generating an audio tone via audio device111. Alternatively, the user can display additional display elementssuch as, for example, 1108 in companion window 1101 by selecting (i.e.by clicking on the displayed object with a pointing device 116 or othersuch pointing devices as are well known in the art) one of amultiplicity of display elements such as, for example, 1103, 1105, etc.By selecting display element 1103, for example, the client program 200causes a display element such as a “drop down menu” (as well know in theart) such as, for example, 1102 to display. By selecting a command froma display element such as, for example, display element 1105 or dropdown menu 1102, additional display elements such as a “data entry field”such as, for example, 1112 or 1108 can be displayed. Display of a dataentry field such as, for example, 1108 (UCL entry field) allows the userto enter data manually into client program 200 via manual input devicessuch as keyboard 114 or Audio Input unit 113 while the client program200 is operating in background mode.

To Recap:

A first screen such as that illustrated by FIG. 11-A is displayed if theclient program is configured to startup in background mode andadditional display elements such as data entry fields such as, forexample, 1108 can be added to companion window 1101 by the userselecting certain display elements. Background mode is conducive toconcurrent display and operation of the client program and a companionprogram (displayed within companion window 1101) such as, for example, aword processing or email program. A first screen such as thatillustrated by FIG. 11-B is displayed if the client program 200 isconfigured to startup in foreground mode. The user can easily alternatebetween foreground and background modes by selection of a command from apull down menu or display element such as, for example, 1102, 1103, or1105. For purposes of discussion the representative embodiment of thepresent invention illustrates the foreground mode of operation.

Receiving Subscriber Information:

A user receives a business card 1502 from a subscriber. The businesscard 1502 is encoded with a UCL in human readable format 1508 and/ormachine readable format 1506 as described below. The user (and/orsubscriber) will, by definition, have a copy of the client program 200as well as his/her own personal UCL or UUID installed on his/her clientcomputer 100.

Referring now to FIG. 7 and FIG. 11-B the user selects the “enter” iconfrom selection menu 1102 of a first screen FIG. 11-B of the clientprogram 200 and is presented with a UCL entry window 1108 and a UCLconfirmation window 1110. As noted above The user manually enters viamanual input device(s) 113 or 114 (or other such manual input devices)the UCL 1508 or automatically enters via automatic input device(s) 117,118 or other such automatic input device (i.e. smart card reader, OCR,MICR, etc.) the UCL 1506 from the subscriber's business card 1502 intothe client program 200 on the client computer 100. Traditionally, manualdata entry is prone to errors (more so than automatic data entry).Accordingly, when entering UCL's manually, the user has the option(though is not required) to enter supplemental information of the cardissuer (subscriber) such as, for example, all or a portion of thesubscribing business card issuer's last name (in UCL entry window 1108)in addition to the UCL 1508. The entry of two separate identifiers (UCLand last name) helps to reduce delivery of incorrect contact details (asexplained below).

When entry of the UCL 1508/1506 and/or last name is complete the clientprogram 200 displays the entered UCL and/or last name of the subscriberin the confirmation window 1110 and stores the UCL 1508 and/orsupplemental information (such as the subscriber's last name) in a“pending contacts” file 212.4 on the client computer 100. The user canattach notes to the UCL 1508 by entering notes in the notes window 1112.The notes are stored in a “pending contact” file 212.4 on the clientcomputer 100 and later passed to the CMS/PIM program 216 once contactdetails 208.2.2 are down loaded to the client computer 100 (as explainedin further detail below).

Connect to the Server System:

The client program 200 will continue to accept and store UCL's 1508,supplemental information, notes, etc. until the user indicates thathe/she has finished entering UCL's. The client program 200 then, basedon one or more of a multitude of conditions, causes the client computer100 to establish a communications session with the server system 130 viaremote network 120. The client computer 100 contains a web browser (suchas, for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) orother such Internet or remote network navigation technology and acommunications interface 112 to facilitate communications via the remotenetwork 120 to other computers capable of communicating via the remotenetwork 120 and specifically, the server system 130.

The client program 200 is delivered to the user and installed on theuser's client computer 100 with the pre-established URL 1510 of theserver system 130. The client program automatically passes the preestablished URL 1510 of the server system 130 to the web browser (orother such navigation and communication program) of the client computer100 and causes the client computer 100 to establish a communicationssession via remote network 120 to the server system 130. It will beapparent to one with skill in the art that there are numerous methods bywhich the client computer 100 might initiate the communicationconnection between the client computer 100 and the server system 130.One such communication initiation method might be, for example, the useractively selecting a command from a menu such as “update contacts” (i.e.selecting “Update” from menu item 1102). Another communicationinitiation method might be, for example, the client program 200 causingthe web browser (or operating system 101) of the client computer 100 tospawn an additional Internet connection while the client computer 100 isalready communicating via the web and simultaneously performing othertasks. Yet additional initiation methods might be, for example, theclient program 200 identifying the completion of the entry of the UCL(either manually or automatically), or by the passage of time, by lackof input activity, or by numerous other conditions.

For example, in one embodiment, the user establishes a connection to theInternet (remote network 120) for the purpose of checking email. Oncethe connection has been established between the client computer 100 andthe Internet (or World Wide Web), the client program 200 spawns (orcauses the operating system, web browser or other such program of theclient computer 100 to spawn) an additional process/connection (as wellknown in the art) to the remote network 120 and causes the web browseror other such program of the client computer 100 to establish a secondcommunication session simultaneous with the first communication session,the second communication session being a communication session betweenthe client computer 100 and the server system 130.

In another embodiment, the user scans the UCL 1508 encoded on a businesscard 1502 & 1504 in machine-readable format 1506 into a palmtop (i.e.hand-held) client computer 100. A control character at the end of theUCL 1508 causes the client program 200 on the palmtop client computer tocause the palmtop client computer's modem to establish a wirelessconnection via remote network 120 to the server system 130 for purposesof communicating inbound and outbound information between a clientcomputer 100 and a server system 130 as described herein.

Alternatively, a supplemental client computer 115 (i.e. a palmtopcomputer or personal digital assistant, as well known in the art) reads(i.e. scans via bar code or magnetic stripe, etc.) one or multiple UCL's1508/1506 from one or multiple encoded business cards 1502/1504 andstores the UCL's in a pending contacts file on the supplemental clientcomputer 115. After a pre-determined period of idleness (i.e. no inputactivity) of, for example, 10 minutes, the supplemental client computer115 automatically establishes a communication session with a clientcomputer 100. The communication session between the supplemental clientcomputer 115 and the client computer 100 might be via one of amultiplicity of methods such as, for example, infrared communications,radio communications, cellular, satellite, wire based, etc. Thesupplemental client computer 115 then synchronizes (as well known in theart) it's contact database with that of the client computer 100 wherebythe supplemental client computer 115 transfers the contents of it'spending contacts file (i.e. stored UCL's) to the client computer 100 andclient computer 100 transfers to supplemental client computer 115 newlyreceived contact detail information (information received since the lasttime the supplemental client computer 115 and the client computer 100synchronized data). The client computer 100 then, either concurrent tothe communication session with the supplemental client computer 115 orat a later time, communicates with the server system 130 via remotenetwork 120 and uploads the newly received pending contacts information(received from supplemental client computer 115) and the processproceeds as described herein for transfer of information between clientcomputer 100 and server system 130. Concurrent to establishing acommunication session with the client computer 100, the supplementalclient computer 115 automatically displays news and advertisinginformation (FIG. 11-C) and status information to the user on the outputdevice of the supplemental client computer 115.

In yet another embodiment, the client program 200 monitors Input/Outputactivity in much the same manner as a “screen saver” (as well known inthe art) might and waits for a period of inactivity. After a presetperiod of time has passed without the requisite I/O activity (keyboardactivity, mouse activity, printer activity, network activity, etc.), theclient program 200 automatically causes the client computer 100 toestablish a communications session with the remote server system 130.

Concurrent to establishing a communication session with the serversystem 130, the client computer 100 automatically displays news andadvertising information (FIG. 11-C) and status information to the useron the output device 102 of the client computer 100. Display of news andadvertising information is expressed in greater detail below in thesection titled “NEWS AND ADVERTISING”.

Transfer Inbound and Outbound Information:

Once the communication session between the client computer 100 and theserver system 130 has been established, the server system 130automatically displays server system advertisements 1304 such asillustrated in FIG. 13 to the user and also displays a “statusindicator” 1310. The server system advertising may take the form ofbanner ads such as 1304 or spot ads or focus ads. Server system banner,spot, and focus ads may be displayed individually or in any combinationdepending on the function the server system is performing. For example,if a first time user has established the communication session with theserver system 130 for purposes of registering, then the server systemmight display a “server system home page” such as that illustrated inFIG. 14 which also, simultaneously, displays a banner ad 1404 to thefirst time user. Or, if a subscriber communicates with the server system130 for purposes of updating his/her account information then the serversystem might display a banner ad 1304 to the subscriber simultaneouslyto displaying a “maintenance” screen such as that illustrated by FIG.13. If the user is simply updating contact information then the serversystem may display a focus ad such as 1208 to the user.

Status indicator 1310 is a symbol and/or text message displayed on theoutput device 102 of the client computer 100 which indicates the currentprocess (i.e. “transferring UUID”, “uploading event log”, etc.) which istaking place on the client computer 100, the server system 130, orbetween the client computer 100 and the server system 130.

Concurrent to the display of server system news and advertisinginformation (FIG. 11-C) and status information 1310/1410 to the user,the client program 200 also automatically passes the user's own UUID (orUCL if the user is also a subscriber) to the sever system 130. Theserver system 130 utilizes the user's UUID/subscriber's UCL to identifythe user so as to perform various statistical and maintenance functions.The statistics and maintenance files on the server system 130 which areaccessed and updated by the server system may differ based on whetherthe user is only a user or if he/she is also a subscriber. For example,the server system 130 utilizes the subscriber's UCL to access and updatethe subscriber's “UUID summary file” 264.16 (i.e. the list of user's whohave downloaded the subscriber's business card information), “UUIDauthorization” file (i.e. authorization for users to download additionaldetails) and the subscriber's event log for example. The server system130 utilizes the user's UUID to locate and update the users “UCL summaryfile” 264.14 (i.e. the UCL of every subscriber for whom the user hasdownloaded subscriber business card information), “viewer statisticsfile” (i.e. the list of ads displayed on the user's client computerwhich the user has viewed, when and for how long, etc.) and “event log”,etc. A user who is not also a subscriber, however, does not have a “UUIDsummary file” or a “UUID authorization file” to update, but the serversystem will, for example, update the user's event log file and clientconfiguration file. The server system 130 also uses the subscriber'sUCL/user's UUID to aid in recovery and synchronization of data shouldthe communications session be terminated prior to completion of datatransfer.

The server system 130 then requests that the client program 200 transferthe contents of the client computer's outbound files from the clientcomputer 100 to the server system 130. For example, the client computer100 transfers the contents of the user's; viewer statistics file, eventlog, client configuration updates, etc., as well as the contents of the“pending contacts” file. If the user is also a subscriber then theclient program will also upload changes/updates to the subscriber's; webtracker list 208.2.6, contact detail information 208.2.2, etc.

It will be appreciated by one with skill in the art that other automated“house keeping” tasks such as, for example, validating data, processingand reporting of errors, logging events, collecting statistics, etc. arealso conducted by the client and server systems when communicatingand/or transferring inbound and outbound information.

Referring now to FIG. 8, server system 130 receives the contents of theoutbound information file(s) and accesses the associated files stored onthe server system 130 and downloads the information (now “inboundinformation”) to the client computer 100. For example, the clientprogram 200 passes the contents of the pending contacts file 212.4 (step806) to the server system 130 and the server system accesses (step 840)the contact detail and/or advertising file(s) (stored, for example, inthe subscription and registration sub-directory 264.6) of each cardissuer (subscriber) by their respective UCL and downloads i.e. transfersthe contents of the files (i.e. contact details 208.2.2, advertisements206.2, and advertisement controls 206.4) (step 842) to the “inboundspool file” (often referred to herein as the “inbound spooler”) of theclient program 200. Prior to terminating the communications session withclient computer 100, the server system 130 also down loads to the clientprogram 200 (in addition to the contact details, advertisements, and adcontrol information, etc.) the contents of any additional maintenancefiles such as, for example, bug fixes, configuration changes, etc. andterminates the communication session with respect to the client computer100.

The client program 200 then loads the received data into the appropriatefiles on the storage device 104 of the client computer 100 i.e. thecontact detail data 208.2.2 is loaded into the contact management system(CMS) 216, the advertising information is stored in the advertisementfile(s) 206.2, the event log information is stored in the event log210.2, etc.

The client program 200 stores the received contact detail 208.2.2 ofeach individual subscriber in the CMS/PIM 216 and associates eachcontact with their individual UCL. It will be appreciated by one withskill in the art that it is desirable that upon complete transmission ofthe UCL, contact and advertisement information, that the client program200 will perform various confirmation tasks such as, for example,notifying the user of successful completion of the communicationssession including, for example, displaying a message to the user such as“x contacts and y bytes successfully downloaded, z errors”, etc. andprovide the user with the opportunity to resolve errors, correctincomplete data transmissions, etc. should errors occur. It will also beappreciated by one with skill in the art that many functions of theprocess of accessing and transferring of data, error processing, andother tasks can be executed as concurrent processes or sequentialprocesses. The preferred embodiment of the present invention executesconcurrently as many of the processes as is practicable such as, forexample, the processes of display of real time status, display ofadvertising, uploading UCL's, downloading of inbound information,updating of server-system statistics files, data validation, datatransfer, error processing, updating of client-program statistics files,etc. The preferred embodiment of the present invention may also, thoughnot necessarily, execute the processes (whether concurrent orsequential) as background processes to other processes taking placeconcurrently on both or either the client computer and/or the serversystem. It will also be obvious to one with skill in the art that therelative timing and sequence of the various functions performed by theclient and server programs can be modified without altering the spiritor functionality of the present invention. For example, the entry ofUCL's into the client computer could be started concurrent to or evenafter establishment of the communication session with the server systemsuch that the user is entering UCL's while connected to (on-line with)the server system. The server system could begin passing contact andadvertising data back to the client program as soon as the server systemreceives the first UCL record (i.e. concurrent to the client programpassing additional UCL's to the server system).

It will also be appreciated by one with skill in the art that the clientcomputer can support multiple users. A multi-user client system wouldfunction substantially the same as a single user client computer. Themulti-user embodiment of the present invention requires the associationof multiple UCL's/UUID's with multiple associated contact detail files,but otherwise does not alter the spirit and intent of the representativeembodiment of the present invention.

Encoding of Business Cards (and Other Social Communication Media (FIG.15):

In the representative embodiment of the present invention the same UCL1508 which identifies the subscribers contact and advertisinginformation files stored on the server system is printed inhuman-readable format and/or encoded in one or more machine readableformats on the subscriber's business cards 1502/1504.

The printer of business cards prints the subscriber's UCL 1508 on thesubscriber's business cards 1502/1504 along with other typical businesscard information. The URL 1510 of the server system 130 may or may notalso be printed on the business card 1502/1504 in human-readable format1510 and/or machine readable format 1506. It will be appreciated by onewith skill in the art that the encoding of the UCL 1508 and/or theserver system URL 1510 may be accomplished by a variety of methods suchas, for example, by printing the UCL and/or URL in human readable and/orbar code, OCR, magnetic stripe, etc. readable formats on adhesive labelmedia and applying the printed label to the subscriber's business card,or the UCL might be hand written for example. The UCL may also becommunicated verbally to a user of the present invention. The humanreadable encoding may also be in one or more of a plurality oflanguages. The printing and/or encoding of the URL 1510 of the serversystem 130 will assist those recipients of business cards who are not atthe time subscribers or registered users of the present invention toestablish contact with the server system 130 for purposes ofestablishing a subscriber account or registered user account with theserver system 130.

It will be appreciated by one with skill in the art that once thepresent invention becomes well established in the market, that theserver system URL 1510 may not have to be printed and/or encoded on/inthe subscriber's business card. When the present invention becomes wellestablished it is likely that the client program 200 will already beprovided as a standard feature of the client computer 100 as provided bythe provider of the client computer. Accordingly, the client computers100 belonging to recipients (of business cards) who are not yetsubscribers or registered users will automatically establish acommunication with the subscription and registration server 137 of theserver system 130 without the operator of the client computer 100 havingto manually enter or read the server system URL 1510 from the businesscard.

It will be appreciated by one with skill in the art that the subscribermay have the UCL 1508 and server-system URL 1510 printed in humanreadable format and/or encoded in machine readable format(s) in anylocation on the business card surface or within the business card (i.e.smart chip technology) without materially altering the spirit orintended functionality of the present invention. In the representativeembodiment of the present invention the UCL 1508 and server system URL1510 are printed in human-readable format as well as encoded in one ormore machine readable formats 1506. FIG. 1504 illustrates the serversystem URL 1510 and UCL 1508 printed on the back side 1504 of thesubscriber's business card 1502. It will be apparent to one with skillin the art that there are numerous methods for encoding and transmittingthe UCL 1508 and server system URL 1510 from the business card 1502 &1504 to the client computer 100 including, but not limited to; bar code,magnetic stripe, “smart chip” (as known in the art), OCR (OpticalCharacter Recognition), MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition), OMR(Optical Mark Recognition), and others. It will also be apparent to onewith skill in the art that the Universal Contact Locator (UCL) 1508 andserver system URL 1510 may be present in human readable format only,machine readable format only, or both human and machine readable formatssimultaneously. It will also be appreciated that the term “alphanumeric” is used herein to represent human and/or machine readablecharacters, but that characters used in the UCL may be other thanalphabetic characters or numeric characters such as “@, #, $, %, etc.FIG. 15 illustrates just one of the many embodiments that are inaccordance with the spirit and scope of the present invention. Analternate embodiment of the present invention would have the UCL andserver system URL encoded in human readable format only. Yet anotheralternative embodiment of the present invention would have the UCL andserver system URL encoded in machine-readable format only.

News and Advertising:

Subscribers submit news items and advertisements 208.2.10 to the serversystem 130 for storage on the server system. News and ads 208.2.10 canbe textural, graphical (still or animated), video, audio or otherdigital format or a combination of any of the above. When submitting anad 208.2.10 to the server system 130 the subscriber also completes an adcontrol profile 206.4 which is then associated with each ad. The adcontrol profile contains parameters which describe the ad type, actions,and display schedule.

Ad Types:

The ad types include for example “banner” ads 1212 which are typicallydisplayed at either the top or bottom of the client screen in a narrowwindow. Banner ads can be stationary or animated, but are typicallyanimated (such as scrolling in a “ticker tape” fashion, flashing,changing colors, etc.). Spot ads 1214 are displayed at various locationson the client screen and are typically larger than banner ads. Spot adscan be stationary or animated. Advertisements can also include audio andvideo information.

Action Parameters:

Action parameters determine the placement (i.e. location of an ad on theoutput device 102 of the client computer 100) of each ad (such as thoseillustrated in FIG. 11-C) on the output device 102 of the clientcomputer 100 as well as the movements or animation an ad may be subjectto. For example, a spot ad 1214 may originally appear in the upper righthand corner of the user's computer screen and remain stationary for 20seconds, then begin to “slide” or scroll across the screen and “exit”off the left hand side of the user's screen. Action parameters alsodetermine what actions the client program 200 is to perform should thead be selected. For example, the user clicking on (i.e. with a mouse orother such pointing device as well known in the art) a spot ad 1214 orbanner ad 1212 causes the display of a “focus ad” 1208. A focus addisplays additional information (relative to the spot or banner ad) in alarger window. Another action, for example, involves the user placingthe pointing device image (i.e. mouse pointer) over a banner ad whichthen causes the banner to stop moving and then moving the pointer off ofthe ad will cause the ad to continue moving. Another action parametercauses a moving banner ad to change directions according to thedirection of movement of the pointing device. For example, dragging thecursor or pointing device image from left to right over a banner willcause the banner to scroll from left to right.

Ad Display Schedule:

The ad display schedule controls when the news and ad items 208.2.10 aredownloaded from the server system 130 to the client computer 100, whenthe news item 206.6 or ad 206.2 is to be deleted (or over written) fromthe client computer, how often the news 206.6 or ad 206.2 is to bedisplayed to the user, etc.

The appropriate news items 206.6 and ads 206.2 (according to the newsand ad scheduling parameters of the news and ad control profiles 206.8and 206.4 respectively) are then down loaded to the client program 200for display to users. Banner ads 1212 and spot ads 1214 are displayedcontinually at the periphery of the client screen (typically top andbottom of the screen for banner ads and on the right or left side of thescreen for spot ads). Focus ads 1208 are displayed as a result of theuser selecting (typically by “clicking” on) either a banner or spot ad.Focus ads 1208 are also displayed during the time the client computer100 is establishing connection with the server system 130, and may alsobe displayed while the client and server systems are transferring data(i.e. while the client and server systems are uploading and downloadingoutbound and inbound information. Focus ads 1208 may also be displayedduring and after the time the client and server systems are terminatingcommunications. In other words, focus ads may be displayed during theentire process of the client and server systems establishingcommunications and while communicating and may continue to be displayedon the client computer after termination of the communication sessionwith the server system until such time as the user closes the focus adscreen.

During communications sessions when the client computer 100 and serversystem 130 are uploading outbound information and/or downloading inboundinformation or during communication sessions intended to perform otherfunctions such as user registration/subscription, system configuration,account maintenance functions, etc., (as illustrated in FIG. 9) theserver system may display server-system transition advertisements suchas 1302. These server-system transition ads (often referred to herein as“server ads”) are stored only on the server system 130. Server ads canbe provided by subscribers and/or third party advertisers. Server adscan be textural, graphical (still or animated), video, audio or otherdigital format or a combination of any of the above. When submitting aserver ad to the server system 130 the subscriber also completes aserver ad control profile which is then associated with each ad. Theserver ad control profile functions in essentially the same manner asthe client ad control profile with exception of the fact that the serverad control profile is utilized by the server ad player to control thedisplay of server ads not client ads. As such, the server ad controlprofile contains parameters which describe the ad type, actions, anddisplay schedule of each server ad. Server ads are in all materialrespects (other than, potentially, content) identical to client ads withexception of where they are stored and when they are displayed to users.Server ads are stored on the server system 130 and are displayed whenthe client computer 100 and the server system 130 are communicating and,potentially, immediately after the termination of a communicationsession.

1-22. (canceled)
 23. A computer system within a network wherein a clientcomputer has access to a database of records of information, each recordhaving an associated web site address and, when the client computeraccesses on the network a website having an address that is associatedwith a record in the database, the client computer displays informationfrom the record in addition to information from the web site.
 24. Thecomputer system of claim 23 wherein the database of records is a contactinformation manager.
 25. The computer system of claim 23 wherein theinformation from the record is information sent to the client computerby a remote computer that is not under common content control with theweb site.
 26. A computer system within a network wherein a clientcomputer has access to a database of records of information, each recordhaving associated key words and, when the client computer accesses onthe network a search engine and provides to the search engine a word fora search which is also one of the associated key words, the clientcomputer displays information from the record associated with that keyword in addition to information from the search engine.
 27. The computersystem of claim 26 wherein the database of records is a contactinformation manager.
 28. The computer system of claim 26 wherein theinformation from the record is information sent to the client computerby a remote computer that is not under common content control with theweb site.
 29. A computer system within a network wherein a clientcomputer sends to a server computer an identifier identifying an entityas well as a time deadline and the server computer gathers news itemsfrom a plurality of other servers on the network about the entity andsends them to the client computer until the deadline is reached, atwhich time the server computer ceases sending said news items.
 30. Thecomputer system of claim 29 wherein the news items are links to webpages containing news information.
 31. The computer system of claim 29wherein the news items are stored on the server computer until requestedby the client computer.
 32. The computer system of claim 29 wherein thetime deadline is associated in the client computer with a time set for ameeting in a calendar program and, when the time of the meeting set inthe calendar program is changed, an updated time deadline isautomatically sent by the client computer to the server computer. 33.The computer system of claim 29 wherein, the client computer also sendsto the server computer a start time and the server computer beginssending said news items after the start time.
 34. The computer system ofclaim 33 wherein the time deadline and the start time are bothassociated in the client computer with a time set for a meeting in acalendar program and, when the time of the meeting set in the calendarprogram is changed, an updated time deadline and an updated start timeare automatically sent by the client computer to the server computer.35. The computer system of claim 29 wherein advertisements aredownloaded with the news items and are displayed on a predeterminedschedule. 36-41. (canceled)